Hydrangeas and My Point & Shoot

I thought I would take a break from my technical posts and show some pictures of hydrangeas that are blooming in our garden right now.  These were taken with my Coolpix point and shoot camera in aperture mode.  Unfortunately, I don't have the names of these beauties.  I have to wait for hubby to give me clues....

I'll be back to with a post about this nifty point and shoot camera!  Stay tuned!

Slave Settings for Nikon SB-600 Speedlight

I finally had a chance to take some pictures of my SB-600.  Here's my instructions on how to set the Nikon SB-600 Speedlight as a slave flash.

My SB-600 flash with normal settings:

SB-600 normal display (P7100)

Press the "Zoom" and "-" buttons simultaneously and hold until the CSM setting mode displays.  Then press the "-" or the "+" to get to the wireless connection setting.  This will appear as a squiggly "z" shaped arrow and displays "OFF" by default:  

SB-600 showing wireless communication is Off  (P7100)

Press the "Mode" button once to change from "OFF" to "ON":

SB-600 showing wireless communication is On (P7100)

Press the Power "ON/OFF" button to exit the CSM setting mode.  The display will now show the SB-600 in slave mode with CH set to 3 and Group set to A (default settings):

SB-600 set to slave on Channel 3 and Group A (P7100)

Once my SB-600 is set to slave, the flash will remain powered on and ready to go.  Red LED lights will blink until I take a picture and then continue to blink afterwards.  Also the SB-600 will make a chime sound when I take a picture to let me know that the flash was fired.  Nice!



Here is my new SB-700 Speedlight.  It is set to Master and would be installed on my D7000.  On the lower right, is the On/Off/Slave/Master toggle and button switch.  To set this flash to Master, I press and hold the round button while moving the toggle to Master.  Here's what the display settings look like:

SB-700 set as Master (P7100)

In the above picture, you can see that I've set my Group A flash exposure setting to -1.00 EV and the (M)aster set to 0.0EV.  Group B flash exposure is showing "---" as there are no flashes being used for this group.  Pressing the "SEL" button several times allows me to move between the different fields displayed.  I use the rotating dial (around the OK button) to make my changes.  Once I make the appropriate changes, I just press the "OK" button to accept the changes.  Now I'm ready to take my pictures.

My next adventure will be to use my D7000 DSLR as the commander or master flash and then set my SB-700 as a slave as well as my SB-600.  Stay tuned!

Pictures were taken with my Nikon Coolpix P7100 and Nikon SB-400 flash.

Gadget: ExpoDisc...a True Winner

I received a new toy...an ExpoDisc by ExpoImaging.  It's a White Balance (WB) incident tool that eliminates the need for post-production color or WB adjustments.  With the ExpoDisc I can set a custom WB in my camera, shoot a WB reference frame to be used later in my photo editing software, or I can use it to set the exposure.

My 77mm ExpoDisc with the outside facing up

There's two sides to this ExpoDisc.  On what I consider the inside is a flat plain white filter.

Plain side of the ExpoDisc with included lanyard

I put this side against my lens.  I then set my camera to WB Pre-Set (or custom) and take a picture at my light source with the ExpoDisc covering the lens.  Basically, I'm taking an "incident reading" of the light source.  After the WB shot is taken, my camera is ready to take a picture.  

ExpoDisc place against the lens (picture from ExpoImaging site)

I took the following picture before setting up my custom WB:

WB set to Auto (without ExpoDisc)

Here's the results after using this nifty WB ExpoDisc gadget:

WB set to Pre-Set or custom (with ExpoDisc)

More test shots:

ExpoDisc with WB set to Auto 

ExpoDisc with WB set to custom using the ExpoDisc

Can you see the difference?  This device is so easy to use and so far, I think it's the best WB tool.  Each ExpoDisc is hand calibrated and certified for neutrality.  Included in the box was a quality control card.  My ExpoDisc was certified at 17.85% light transmission (close enough to the 18% neutrality).  Also in the box was a nylon case (storage) and a woven lanyard (wear the disc around my neck).

The disc comes in several different lens sizes.  I purchased one of the larger sizes (77mm) to accommodate my largest lens or future lens.  When I use my smaller lens, I just place and hold the ExpoDisc against the lens and take a picture.

Note:  the only post production I did was to crop the photos and add my copyright.  Pictures were taken without flash and in a room with incandescent lighting.

Here's a link to the ExpoImagining site.  Here you will find a few videos on how to use the ExpoDisc.  It's pretty cool!

Nurturing the Right Side of My Brain

In my quest to to nurture the right side of my brain with creativity, I took a trip to an art center.  The Workhouse Art Center used to be a reformatory or correctional facility.  Knowing this, I figured I would bring my camera along.  I'm glad I did.  

The Workhouse Art Center

There are several buildings on this campus.  Each building connected to a long corridor like this one:

All the bricks seen in the photos were produced by the prisoners who resided here.  They built their own prison buildings.  

Small gallery:  bricks on the left side of the wall painted white

Many different artists' studios can be found here.  From mixed media to fiber arts to beading and jewelry making.  I enjoyed hanging out in the studios.  I'm getting ideas for my future studio.

Many of the studios looked down right comfy:

The oil paintings here look so realistic...like photos.  

Walking across the lawn

Inside one of the buildings with long hallway galleries and studios

Inside the ceramics building:  several potter's wheels

Here is one of three guard towers that are still standing:  

Guard tower

This is a very unique art center.  I feel like I could spend hours here observing and learning.  I'm looking forward to coming back during a work day to see all the artists in action.

Nikon CLS (Master and Slave)...My First Studio Shot

This evening I was staying out of hubby's way.  He was working on his sermon for tomorrow's service.  I decided to pull out my Nikon flashes and try out the Nikon Creative Flash System or CLS.  I did an informal studio setup.  Nothing elaborate.

I had my SB-600 with a medium size softbox on a tripod.  My new SB-700, attached with my Gary Fong Lightsphere was perched on my camera on another tripod.  I placed the SB-600 (slave) to one side and turned the flash head/softbox up towards the ceiling.  My camera was turned sideways (portrait) and the SB-700 (master) flash head was turned up towards the ceiling as well.  

I had to program my SB-600 as a slave.  Not having any instruction book handy, I just played with a couple buttons.  Okay, not knowing what all the icons and symbols meant...I headed over to my buddy Google.com and found what I needed.  I made the change on my flash to slave and it gave me the default channel 3 and group A.  

I configured my SB-700 to master which entailed holding down a button and turning the flash on to Master on the dial.  That was way too simple.  I tried a test flash with the master flash and noticed my slave wasn't going off.  Hmmmmm.  I remembered the number 3 and the letter A from the slave flash default setting.  I looked at the settings again on the master and noticed it was on channel 1.  A quick change to channel 3 and I was all set.  

It took several shots before I finally got the hang of taking a self portrait using the two flashes.  Here's my first studio test shot.  

BTW, I also used my corded remote control to take the pictures.  All I had to do was plug it into my camera and it was ready to go.  

I'm just having way too much fun!

A Bit of Patience With a Bumble Bee

I hung out in the garden this evening taking more pictures.  Our beautiful Stewartia tree was in full bloom.  I noticed a few bumble bees were hovering at the top of the tree.  I waited.  A lone bumble bee ventured down and buzzed around my ear.  I knew it was time.  I got my camera ready and focused on one of the flowers closest to me and waited.  These critters can be fast and I knew I had to do just click away and hope for the best.

Stewartia flower (40mm micro)

There was no way I could get a clear and sharp picture without my flash.  Good thing I had my SB-400 with me.

More Blooms

More flower pictures from our garden:

Peony

Bletilla Orchid

Geranium

All pictures were taken with my 40mm micro lens and small SB-400 flash.  I'm in a flash mood.  Can you tell?