bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

First time questioner. I have Nikon D5200 and Nikon Speedlight SB-600. I'm a non-professional but like to take good pictures. My pictures are primarily for family and my wife's facebook page. My problem is that whenever I use the Speedlight flash (more power of course), the people come out over-exposed. When I take the same picture using the on-board flash, the exposure is normal. Both of the shots attached are in P-mode from about the same distance, using "Center weighted average" metering. Any idea why the Speedlight is constantly giving pictures/people that are over-exposed?

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BebuLamar

I would expect a good flash system to overexpose the image like in the one on the left. The reason? Only part of the image is lighted!

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Actually more of the picture with the SB600 is adequately lit. Only the face is well lit with the onboard flash

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Use a mini softbox on your external flash. It will disburse the light better and make it much less harsh.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Build yourself a bounce diffuser. Point flash head up, take #10 white business envelope, rubber band to flash head. You will get better lighting on the background and the subject.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

Set the camera to manual and get the ambient exposure. Then use your flash and set it for how you want your subject to look.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

For direct flash, I typically have the flash compensation dialed down maybe 1 stop or so on my SB 910. If I can, I bounce off of the ceiling and or walls, but never directly above. Bouncing off to the side a bit and slightly behind gives me more directional light that can look more natural. It’s something you have to play with to discover what works.
Neil Van Neikerk has some really good tutorials
https://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/natural-looking-flash/

CO

Bryan Peterson, in his book "Understanding Flash Photography", has a solution for that. He puts both the camera and flash in manual mode. He exposes for the background with the camera settings. When the flash is in manual mode, it will show the ideal flash to subject distance on its LCD screen. You estimate how far your main subject is from the flash. You then rotate the command dial until the screen is showing the distance you estimated. It takes into consideration your camera's ISO and aperture settings when it calculates the distance. I've tried it. It works. You will get a more even exposure from front to back. This is from my SB-700 manual. The SB-600 probably has the same feature.

Bill_de Loc: US

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tenny52 Loc: San Francisco

let me give a penny suggestion: Do you use a diffuser?
I favor "Universal Flash Diffuser Softbox for Speedlite" which is like a white cap; for easy to carry and put into the pocket

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

Couple of things you could do.
1. tilt flash ALMOST straight up (just slightly forward), extend white card from flash and pull it all the way up, this will give you a more diffused light.
2. Go to controls on your flash and use -.7 to -1 power settings, this will lesson the flash output of your flash to mirror your on camera flash power.
3. Aim flash head up and behind you.
4. tilt flash head up and use this unit
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=nikon%20sb-600&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

The FlashPoint I use for my Fuji came with a diffuser similar to the one pictured in the link in #4. It is quite effective.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The 600 is lighting the scene, a job it was designed to do. The popup is less powerful, so it is producing a good result. Try tilting the 600 up and getting less light on the subject - bounce flash.

Grnway Loc: Manchester, NH

Hi Bobby,

One thing I noticed is that the overexposed photo, with the speedlight, has your subject slightly off center. You're using "center-weighted average" metering, which means that the camera is evaluating the scene mostly within an area roughly 1/3 of the center of the frame. Unfortunately, that includes the dimly lit background. The camera is compensating for that by telling the flash to fire more power to get the dark background lit, thereby over-exposing the face.
Your pop-up flash is getting a different reading because the face is more in the center, dominating the area of metering, therefore a better result.

I can only assume that the Nikon speedlight communicates extremely effectively with your Nikon camera. You have to be careful where you meter. In a dimly lit background scene, it's probably a better idea to go with spot metering. Your flash will be more likely to illuminate to the desired level.

The above suggestions, with diffusers and soft boxes are all good, but try different metering modes as well to get better results.

I may be wrong, but i believe that with some Nikon cameras in spot focus mode, you can set the camera to also meter in that spot. I've never shot Nikon, but maybe some of the Nikonians here can comment.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

About your question, Bobby, of why the Speedlight image is "over exposed" --- it isn't. The SB-600 doesn't know that you are only interested in the subject's face and it is strong enough to light the background area as well. Even a "Center Weighted" meter still bases 20% of its exposure on the area outside the center, and the gray chairs and shirt are close to properly exposed. If your person is close to the camera, turn the Speedlight off. The on-board flash can handle things fine, as you can see. If the rest of the family is standing behind your subject, use the SB-600. I do. Mine works well.
As folks here have said, there are lots of ways to soften the flash if you feel you want to use it. But Speedlights are just too strong for up-close, direct flash-on-a-face.