Quick Tour

Many cameras come equipped with a built-in flash. Like any photographer who takes many photos with flash, you soon learn the limitations of these built-in flashes. Adding one or more Speedlights to your photographic arsenal enhances your photographic capabilities beyond what a built-in flash can provide.

Speedlights are not only useful in lowlight situations, but can be used in many other situations as well. Uses range from fill flash (which you learn more about later in the book) in direct sunlight to completely lighting a subject in the studio.

The SB-900 or SB-800 are ready to go for quick snapshots, but also configurable for some complex wireless multi-flash photo shoots. So get ready; you are about to explore the world of the Nikon Speedlights and the Nikon Creative Lighting System.

Quick Tour

Right out of the box, a Speedlight can be used to capture dramatic portraits.

Getting Started

If you want to get up and running quickly with your Nikon Speedlight, all you really need to do is insert the batteries, attach the Speedlight to your camera, and then turn both the Speedlight and the camera on. You'll be amazed at the quality of flash photos you can take with the Speedlight as soon as you take it out of the box, whether it's the entry level SB-400 or the top-of-the-line SB-900.

Note

The Nikon Creative Lighting System Digital Field Guide assumes that you are familiar with your camera's ...

Get Nikon® Creative Lighting System: Digital Field Guide, Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.