Sunday, December 7, 2008

Bike Mag Cover

Last month I got something really exciting in the mail, Bike Magazine, and for the second time in my life I had a photo on the cover of it. What set this cover apart for me was that it was shot at 1/500th of a second with flash. See my post on Camera Sync Speed and Flash for more details.

The Details:
This was shot at 1/500 f5 with a Nikon D2Xs. I used 2 Nikon SB800's set to manual 1/2 power and mounted on a single stand. I can't remember exactly what the zoom was set at but I metered it out to match the sunlight coming from almost directly overhead. Flash's are on a stand at the bottom of the photo in the middle, behind the bush. Some people may wonder why I used 2 flashes at 1/2 power, isn't that the same as one flash at 1/1? Yes it is, the big difference is that the flash duration is way quicker, so you get a crisper image, and if I was going to take a second shot, they recycle way faster as well. I've started using 2 SB800's together now for a lot of different things, it just seems to work better for me.