Nikon® D90 Digital Field Guide

Chapter 6. Working with Light

In This Chapter

Natural light

D90 flash basics

Flash exposure modes

Flash sync modes

Flash exposure compensation

Fill flash

Bounce flash

Nikon Creative Lighting System basics

Using the built-in Speedlight

Strobes and monolights

Continuous lighting

Light modifiers

The most important factor in photography is light; without it, your camera is rendered useless. You need light to make the exposure that results in an image. Whether the light is recorded to silver halide emulsion on a piece of film or to the CMOS sensor on your D90, you can't make a photograph without it.

Not only is light necessary to make an exposure, but it also has different qualities that can impact the outcome of your image. Light can be soft and diffuse or it can be hard and directional. Light can also have an impact on the color of your images; different light sources emit light at different temperatures, which changes the colorcast of the image.

When there's not enough light to capture the image you're after or if the available light isn't suitable for your needs, you can employ alternative sources of light, such as flash, to achieve the effect you're after.

The ability to control light is a crucial step toward being able to make images that look exactly how you want them to. In this chapter, I explain some of the different types of light and how to modify them to suit your needs.

Natural Light

Although it's by far the easiest type of light to find, natural light is sometimes the most difficult to ...