CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

There is often a post asking about the use of flash/speedlights so I thought I would just pass on a recommendation on two book I recently acquired that are FANTASTIC for learning the use of flash.

The first is Kevin Kubota's "Lighting Notebook." There are 101 setups and he shows exactly what he used and how it was set up. The setups range from one flash simple to more elaborate uses of flash and diffusers - several examples of multiple flashes.

Second is Joe McNally's new one" "Sketching With Light." Joe, if you do not know of him, is one of the more prolific shooters of the last 30 years. Several National Geographic assignments and he is the MASTER of TTL flash. And he IS funny.

Joe also shows exactly how he sets up the lights, but more than that, he talks a lot about the philosophy of lighting.

If you want to get better at using small flash off the camera, these guys have some great information to show you. Do not worry about how much they cost, just buy them.

Note I said OFF the camera. For them the only purpose of a flash mounted on the camera is to fire the remotes.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

I couldn't agree more with the Joe Mcnally books, his book, The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes, is a wonderful example of how to properly use portable speedlights in the field as well as the studio.

RTR Loc: West Central Alabama

Cliff, I will look into the books you mentioned. Thank you very much for the suggestions. I have been thinking about that off camera flash being triggered by the popup flash and I just can't get my head around it. I would think the on camera popup flash would ruin the off camera flash lighting.

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

The pop-up can be set to trigger only. It fires the signal to the remote, but when the shutter opens what light comes form the pop-up is so reduced, that unless you are really close to the subject, there is no discernible light. Works great.You just make the setting from the Commander mode.

I have been using the Nikon flash system since 2002 starting with the 80DX and now have 5 SB-800s and 2 SB-600s and have a decent understanding, so if you have any specific questions, just PM me.

bubbaDon Loc: southern tier, New York

Thanks CC, going to be doing some chemo for 16 weeks, this looks like some interesting reading to take up that down time.

DavidT Loc: Maryland

Thanks, CaptainC! There is so much discussion about cameras and lenses, but, in my opinion, lighting plays just as an important role in getting good pictures. Looking at the description of Kevin Kubota's book, it looks like it has some very good information with examples on different flash setups. I ordered the book (but what gives with the shipping charges being 1/3 the price of the book?) :-(

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

Thanks Cliff, I just went out to Buy.com and got them both for $53 and free shipping. Looking forward to learning some speed light techniques.
Thanks again, guys like you make this a very special place.
Pepper

DavidT Loc: Maryland

Totally jealous!

RTR Loc: West Central Alabama

I re-read the manual for the D5100 and can't find anywhere that tells how to put the built in flash into commander mode. I do not think the D5100 has this capability.