Joe McNally, professional Nikon photographer was in Ljubljana yesterday (April 20th). This stop was a part of his European tour (Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany). It was his first visit here.
Joe McNally
I noticed his way of lighting the subject years back, when I wanted to learn about Nikons new Creative Light System (CLS). That is how I got to his DVD he made for Nikon – Speed of Light. There I first saw that you don’t need big studio flashes for serious photography. I was so impressed that I bought three SB-800 flashes. I added commander SU-800 and SC-29 cord later on and this is beside diffusers, stands, reflectors and various holders the only equipment that you need for professional pictures you find on his portfolio site.
The lecture started at 3pm and ended at 8pm. In this time we tried a few different situations and he showed us how to adjust the system to your needs. The main feature of CLS system is wireless setup and firing of the three flash groups. You normally divide them like this: A – foreground, B – middleground and C – background. You use flash SB-800 or SB-900 only as commander on the camera or you can use special commander SU-800. Joe uses TTL metering for the flash power setup. You start with one group. You over- or underexpose it for desired value and than add flashes in more groups if you need. The camera is always tethered to the computer so he can se the images on the big screen and adjust accordingly. You can see a few setups on the pictures below.
Joe McNally thinks about how to photograph belly dancer Taisha
EzyBox was used here to soften the light on Taisha and five meter long python
He aslo showed us how to use Auto-FP High Speed with shutter times faster than 1/250s
White table cloth was hanged over the door with flash behind it which was triggered with SU-800 using two SC-29 cords. Light comming through the cloth was soft and pleasing to the eye
This was the result of the setup above, soft light wrapping around the two young faces
The lecture was not that much different as those on the Kelby Training site but it was fun and interesting to see the master of light himself in person.