There’s a running joke amongst my circle of friends that starts with, “Do we need a flash” when originally they really meant to ask, “Should we bring a flash?” It became a running joke because I answered the original question with “I doubt it” not knowing what they were really meant to ask, to which the answer is “ALWAYS!” I always have at least one SB-5000 with me with freshly, fully charged Eneloop Pro AA batteries! The vast majority of the time, it never gets used but I ALWAYS have at least the one SB-5000 with me. Why? Light can be a bastard and there are just too many times an important opportunity instantly appears and flash is required to make the photo. In the old days when flash was a pain, I would do everything possible to avoid its use. That’s not the case anymore, I almost go out looking for the opportunity because of the drama it can create. Here are three instances when flash was a must. The first is a quick portrait of two dear friends, Alan Miller and Lt Col Dick Cole. You can see the shadows from the baseball caps the flash is filling in. Shot with the D5 / 24-70VR with the flash in the hotshoe, it’s a quick, clean shot. The SB-5000 was in the back pocket and I have just enough time to put it in the hotshoe and go click. The D5 was already set for the ambient light exposure (A Priority of course) and the flash was already set to -1/3 so I just turned it on and went click. Easy!
The next most common need for flash for me is in overcast light. In deep overcast light, the light has no character, no direction. Ed’s grandfather created the TFLM “Aleutian Tiger” nose art during WWII and that’s his grandfather’s patch he’s holding. Shooting again with the D5 / 24-70VR and SB-5000, using the WR-R10 I could have the SB-5000 off camera and aimed to light just Ed and the patch. That simple kiss of light brings the eye to the subject and that’s the goal of light even if coming from a can.
Then there are those times that colleagues ask for a “portrait” and the pressure is on to create more than just a portrait. Adam is a marvelous videographer with a killer crew so I was honored to be asked for the “quick” portrait. I wanted some drama though in the portrait cause we were all in our work clothes (working with aircraft, oil gets everywhere!). The solution was pretty simple, using “Betty’s Dream” as a background and the sun as a backlight, simply put the SB-5000 in the hotshoe, zoomed out to 14mm and shot D5 / 24-70VR at 24mm. The ambient light was underexposed and the flash normal making it the main light. All of these photos are simple memories, memories surrounding good friends where the “simple click” just wouldn’t do. With photography being all about light, that’s why whether I use it or not, I think you always need to keep light in your back pocket!