Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

I have been taking photos of my 6 grandkids for over 20 years, however, the pictures I take with my Nikon SB-800 are terribly under or over exposed. In all honesty, I don't take many flash photos with this equipment. So, my question is this, what are the best overall camera settings to get good quality flash photos with my D7100 and SB-800? I would really like to take better flash photos. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks! Frank

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Before we blame the equipment, what are the camera and flash settings being used by the photographer?

Are you bouncing the flash off an indoor ceiling, when possible?
Are you using flash exposure compensation when shooting in A / P / S?
Have you experimented with manually controlling the flash output, a feature of this advanced speedlite?
Do you have a diffuser attached to the flash?

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I will add practice using it and doing all the above.
Using a flash rarely does not give you the needed experience to know what does what.
Settings are sort of meaningless as we do not know any of the parameters of location, distances and numerous other factors.

copladocus

CHG_Canon has good comments. As a quick expedient try a poor man's diffuser. I used this with virtually all the crime scenes I documented years ago. Just take facial tissue, Kleenex or even toilet paper and place it loosely over the flash emitter. The more balloon-like the better. I just used rubber bands to hold it on and replacement was quick and cheap. Just don't cover the flash sensor. If that helps your problem, think about buying a commercially made diffuser. Just keep in mind portability and convenience in attaching it. If it stays in your camera bag then it does not address your problem. Practice a bit around the house, DSLR film is cheap!

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

Yes

Most my attempts at flash have been in the manual mode. Is that the best mode for flash shooting? I am simply looking for a baseline of "suggested settings" for this camera/flash set up. I will gladly experiment once I get a good feel for the best settings to use. I have seen suggestions for "sports settings", but have not seen any suggestions for basic flash setup. Thanks!

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

Cameras are dumb. They respond to the amount of light available or provided to them. The first thing you should try to wrap your head around is how shutter, ISO, and aperture interact to determine exposure.
For years I thought that the camera (and the flash) could be set to automatically do most of the thinking for me. Sometimes they can, but often the results are disappointing.
There is a great deal to learn and I suggest lots of reading and experimentation. There are plenty of free resources. An attached flash will always give you more options than the built in unit, a unit that you can activate off camera is better yet. An inexpensive manual unit will suffice. A brand specific TTL flash will try to do much of the work for you. Your in camera menu will control how it all comes together.
Still, light is iight is light whether it comes through a window, a flashlight, a strobe, or even a candle. Once you understand the basics you can move on to light modifiers.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Put the flash in auto and shoot in aperture priority, then use flash exposure compensation from the camera to adjust how bright are the results. As long as there's sync speed available, the camera will slow / increase the shutter speed to allow less or more light. A diffuser is a must. As is practice.

That said, personally I prefer manual on the flash and camera. I develop what I want the camera exposure settings to be. Then, I adjust the flash manual settings to just exactly add the needed light. This can take a lot of test settings / shots, but with practice and consideration, you can get good ish at knowing what manual flash output will be needed.

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

Thanks for your comments!

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

With the SB-800 (a great flash unit), I normally shoot in aperture priority mode in TTL mode. It always delivers very good results. With the SB-800, you will find it easier to dial in exposure compensation on the flash itself.

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

Should I use AF-A, as opposed to AF-S? Which ISO to start, 400? Focus setting.......Matrix? Any other settings, for starters?

Najataagihe

How about taking advantage of Nikon’s engineering team?

Put EVERYTHING on Automatic and see what you get.

Check the EXIF data to see what worked, THEN start mucking about with manual settings.


In other words, get a valid baseline.

You might find Nikon did a pretty good job on flash balance.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

You don't say what ambient light you have, e.g. are you shooting indoors with reasonable or poor light to require use of flash?

What jumps out at me is that you say they are "terribly under or over exposed". Whilst I do not have an SB-800 I have the 600, 910 and 5000 and their control in TTL is extremely good as far as 'exposure/brightness' of results when used within their operating range.



Firstly I would suggest we look at and investigate why they are not exposing reasonably well, forgetting about such items as diffusers and bounce to start with. All they do is 'improve' the quality of the light hitting the subject w.r.t. softness and shadows.

I would suggest you set your camera to manual, 1/200s (sync speed), f/5 (approx.), ISO 200, flash mounted on it in TTL with no FEC and pointing directly forward.

Then take a pic at those settings with the flash turned off, this will show you what ambient light you are capturing, if indoors this will be very low. Adjusting aperture or ISO at this stage would decrease/increase the brightness of the subject but keep ambient low to start with.

Now turn the flash on and wander around the house taking pictures of anything in bright and darker rooms. The only time they should be under or overexposed is if you are too far away or too close. Let us know how you got on.



Use AF-S and the centre single point focus to start with, with matrix metering. The reason for AF-S is that on some cameras the 'focus assist light' does not work with AF-C and beware that with the lens cap fitted this 'may' impair the directional focus assist light.

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

Thank you, very much, Grahame. That is the kind of information that I was hoping for. I appreciate your time and consideration. Frank

Grahame Loc: Fiji

You are welcome, do let us know how you get on with respect to getting good exposures. Once you have achieved this next steps will be to 'improve' the light from the flash by use of diffuser (one would have come with your flash) and bounce methods.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Use manual on your camera and TTL on your flash. Make sure you are shooting under 1/250 sec.
I like to aim the flash head backwards at a 45 degree and I would start with a base exposure of 1/60 sec. F5.6, iso 800. If your first exposure is under, up the iso, if it's over, down the iso. Experiment until you like the results.
I manually flash my SB-800 at least once every two months to keep the capacitors in shape. About 5-10 flashes is good.