Help! heres some samples

[jasonlovingsr]

Well Im not sure what Im doing wrong or if this is just normal. These where shot with a nikon d90 18-105mm with alien b1600. Im just wanting to get the lighting right. I was able to use my friend tonight to practice. The first pic is unedited and the other is the edited.

[E]

First it would be helpful to know your camera settings and what the flash metered at. If you didn't use full manual camera settings there in is your problem.

Where is the light located and how high is it? Are you using any modifiers on it or is this just bare bulb?

The first shot against the tree is under exposed and looks like white balance may be off as well. Once you get exposure correct then you can use post processing techniques to enhance the image.

[Benji]

E nailed it. You need to meter the off camera flash, you need to diffuse the off camera flash, and you need to feather the off camera flash.

After metering the flash and the ambient light and figuring what a good aperture/shutter speed combo you can use, you then need to shoot an 18% gray card for white balance. Lastly holding the camera so the tree/horizon is vertical will give you a more believable image.

Benji

[jasonlovingsr]

settings where 160 f13 iso 200 1/8th power on the flash I will behonest I have no clue what off camera metering is and how to use a gray card but I do want to learn. Trust me I open for feedback.

[E]

OK... sounds like it was manual mode so that's good. If you were not in manual mode but used one of the preset auto setting then start with learning how to manually set your exposure for your camera.

In order to do things with this type of flash you need to learn how to meter and do a custom white balance. You can use your histogram to set the exposure with out a hand held meter.

After learning how to manually set exposure learn how to set a custom white balance. Once you have these things down you can introduce the flash. I'd start with just natural light outside shots to learn exposure and white balance - doesn't have to be with people, can be just nature shots.

Start with your camera manual then maybe try a book. Maybe someone here can recommend a good book to start with.

[Sailor Blue]

Originally Posted by jasonlovingsr

settings where 160 f13 iso 200 1/8th power on the flash I will behonest I have no clue what off camera metering is and how to use a gray card but I do want to learn. Trust me I open for feedback.

Metering a flash really needs to be done with a flash meter. The Sekonic L-458 and the Gossen DigiPro are two that I recommend.

You can use your camera's built-in meter but it is much more complicated. You can do this best in the camera's Manual Mode and the flash's Manual power control mode.

First you must find the right exposure for the background, which is lit by ambient lighting. The best way to do this is using the Expose To The Right (ETTR) technique. Here is a link to my tutorial on an easier wayt to do this.

Sailorblue - PhotoCamel - HA-ETTR: An Easier Way To Expose To The Right Using The Camera's Highlight Alert

You generally pick out the aperture you want to use for depth-of-field control then adjust the shutter speed and ISO to get the background exposure correct. Remember that if you are using flash you must keep your shutter speed to a maximum of 1/3 stop less than the sync. speed (safety factor) given in your manual.

Once you determine the correct exposure for the background you have to decide if you want it to match the subject exposure or be different. Typically you will want to underexpose the background by 1 or 2 stops to make the subject the brightest part of the image. This draws the attention of the image viewer to the subject, which is where you want it.

Now you have to determine the correct exposure for the subject using flash. If the subject has on something white or if you can give him something white like a handkerchief then you can vary the flash power until you find the ETTR exposure for him. Remove any white article you have given the subject and take your perfectly exposed photo.

Now for the semi-automatic procedure - using Canon's ETTL II or Nikons iTTL with the camera in Aperture Priority mode or Manual mode.

Select the desired aperture for depth-of-field control. Either retract the built-in flash or turn off the hot-shoe flash and find the correct exposure using ETTR method. Adjust the ISO and Exposure Compensation to get the shutter speed to a maximum of 1/3 stop less than the sync speed. You would then use the Exposure Compensation to reduce the background exposure if you want to do that.

Turn on the flash in ETTL II or iTTL mode. Take a test shot and adjust the Flash Exposure Compensation to get the correct ETTR subject exposure.

Canon cameras let you adjust the Exposure Compensation and Flash Exposure Compensation independently.

I'm not sure how exposure compensation works with Nikon cameras. I understand that there is only one exposure compensation control for both flash and ambient exposures but there must be a work around. Perhaps a Nikon user will explain.

[Bobby Deal]

Originally Posted by Sailor Blue

Metering a flash really needs to be done with a flash meter. The Sekonic L-458 and the Gossen DigiPro are two that I recommend.

You can use your camera's built-in meter but it is much more complicated. You can do this best in the camera's Manual Mode and the flash's Manual power control mode.

First you must find the right exposure for the background, which is lit by ambient lighting. The best way to do this is using the Expose To The Right (ETTR) technique. Here is a link to my tutorial on an easier wayt to do this.

Sailorblue - PhotoCamel - HA-ETTR: An Easier Way To Expose To The Right Using The Camera's Highlight Alert

You generally pick out the aperture you want to use for depth-of-field control then adjust the shutter speed and ISO to get the background exposure correct. Remember that if you are using flash you must keep your shutter speed to a maximum of 1/3 stop less than the sync. speed (safety factor) given in your manual.

Once you determine the correct exposure for the background you have to decide if you want it to match the subject exposure or be different. Typically you will want to underexpose the background by 1 or 2 stops to make the subject the brightest part of the image. This draws the attention of the image viewer to the subject, which is where you want it.

Now you have to determine the correct exposure for the subject using flash. If the subject has on something white or if you can give him something white like a handkerchief then you can vary the flash power until you find the ETTR exposure for him. Remove any white article you have given the subject and take your perfectly exposed photo.

Now for the semi-automatic procedure - using Canon's ETTL II or Nikons iTTL with the camera in Aperture Priority mode or Manual mode.

Select the desired aperture for depth-of-field control. Either retract the built-in flash or turn off the hot-shoe flash and find the correct exposure using ETTR method. Adjust the ISO and Exposure Compensation to get the shutter speed to a maximum of 1/3 stop less than the sync speed. You would then use the Exposure Compensation to reduce the background exposure if you want to do that.

Turn on the flash in ETTL II or iTTL mode. Take a test shot and adjust the Flash Exposure Compensation to get the correct ETTR subject exposure.

Canon cameras let you adjust the Exposure Compensation and Flash Exposure Compensation independently.

I'm not sure how exposure compensation works with Nikon cameras. I understand that there is only one exposure compensation control for both flash and ambient exposures but there must be a work around. Perhaps a Nikon user will explain.

Sailor the OP is using an Alien Bee mono light not a speed light There is no etal on an alien bee.

[Bobby Deal]

Ok first off the first shot is underexposed and as Benji noted the light needs to be feathered and diffused.

Before we go further though a quick question. Was this shot in JPG and if it was what was the color mode set within the camera menu. I ask because the skin has a very sunburned look and I find this tends to be the case with Nikon JPG when the color mode is set to Vivid. If this is the case try setting it to standard fr better skin tone.

The AB 1600 is a big powerful 640 watt second strobe. Even at 1/8 power you are tossing a lot of unmodified light at your subject. Personally I would want to shoot these at around F/5.6 as f/13 is just way more depth of field then I want outside.

Lacking a light meter you can learn to gauge your exposure via test shots but do not rely on what you see on the LCD instead turn on the histogram view and learn to interpret your exposure there. E histogram of a well exposed image will show as a nice rolling mountain range type graph with no single line of it going up and off the chart and no empty space on the left or right. google understanding histograms to get a full explainition of what it is and how you can use it.

Now you want to diffuse the light to sofeten it up and avoid the hotspots. There are many ways to diffuse the light, the preferred is to use a soft box, the bigger the better but being outside you will need 2-3 sandbags as with a 36" or larger soft box even a light breeze can topple a light. Lacking a soft box you can shoot through the white diffusion panel of your 5 in one reflector set about a foot in front of the light or you can even buy translucent diffusion film in -1/2 and -1 stop densities and clip it over your reflector but remember the bigger the light source the softer the light.

A soft box with 2 diffusion panels will reduce your exposure by 1 stop, that is a half stop per nylon panel the light is passing through. Once you have your diffusion figured out work on light placement. Start with the light off to one side 5-8 feet from the subject and a bit above eye level. Angle the light toward the model at a 30 degrees or so angle. If the light is still two harsh then swing the center of the soft box a little further right or left so you are lighting the model with the outer feathered edge of the beam of light with the bulk of the light sweeping infront of and not directly striking the model. Once you get this figured out then you can work on adding fill and dealing with the shadows the single light is going to create but you have to get the exposure and light quality down first .