Flash is such an important tool and with the introduction of D5 / D500 and SB-5000, it was made even easier to use. The issue still is us, humans that is, in “seeing” light and being able understand when we need to meld ambient light with flash to tell our story. The way we meld the light taking advantage of the computers in our cameras and our flash is through exposure compensation. That’s the purpose behind this post.
In this photo of a Spitfire pilot in the cockpit wearing full scramble gear, it was made on a day when the ambient light was dull and directionless. I needed to dial in exposure compensation for the ambient light and for the flash. The body has only one exposure compensation button but your flash has two (at least with top end Nikons) buttons, one on the flash and one on the body. In this case, I depressed the Flash button on the back, left side of the D5 and dialed in -1. I then depressed the Exp Comp on the SB-5000 and dialed in the amount I needed to meld the light. I did this because I figured I would need to go to -4 stops comp on the flash so it would barely kiss the pilot. The water on the canopy was going to create a ton of specular highlights if the flash was too bright. The flash on its own though can only go to -3 stops so to get to -4, I had to dial -1 into the body (it only effects the flash). This actually permits you to have as much as -6 stops flash exp comp if you want. But here’s the point. You can dial in flash exp compensation in the body easily and, and you can forget that easily and that might really goof you up. It has me more than once. There is a warning in the viewfinder and on the top LCD (see photo above) that will tell you but if you don’t look closely (or you forget to wear your reading glasses), you’ll miss you’ve turned it on. Remember this tool and remember to look for the Lightning Bolt with the plus/minus sign. Great tool for light just remember the reminders!