Specifications

8
9
Magnify your potential with multiple Speedlights
Secondary flash from
behind for a beautiful
halo of light
“In order to capture important events as
they happen without distractions, a wed-
ding photographer must be flexible and
unobtrusive.” Helpful words from Cliff
Mautner, one of the profession’s most
respected practitioners. How he uses
the Nikon Creative Lighting System is
both simple and strategically effective.
All he needed to create texture, dimen-
sion and mood in the image above was
an off-camera flash fired from the left
side of the frame. Wireless control and
i-TTL make it easy. To get soft light in
situations where reflectors or a white
ceiling are not an option, Cliff tilts the
flash head 90 degrees upward — or
even backward — to “feather” the light,
softening a harsh flash to fit the scene
beautifully. This way he adds just the
right amount of light to show the clear
ridge of the bride’s profile in the picture
above. To open up the shadows in the
bride’s veil, he introduces a second light
from behind. This is set in a different
group than the main flash, which means
that he can turn it on and off fro m his
camera seamlessly, and without disturb-
ing his subject.
Small, precise lighting
around the subject to
reveal detail
“I am addicted to light. It never stops
surprising me,” says still life photographer
Yves Paternoster, “It truly is a game of
inches, changing the look and mood of
my pictures depending on where I place
it.” As a studio shooter, Paternoster likes
to take the kind of light you find outdoors
and use it inside a studio environment,
replicating natural light by creative use
of flashes. The Close-up Speedlight
Commander Kit R1C1 does this and
more. “It makes me creatively brave,”
he says, adding “Well, I feel that it
can make anyone
creatively brave.”
The SB-R200 flash
units that work with
the SU-800 are small and wireless, so
photographers like Paternoster can play
around with light freely by handholding
the unit in different positions to get
exactly the effect they want. Although
he was satisfied with a particular flower
picture taken with a single flash unit, he
decided to explore different possibilities
by introducing a second light source.
What he did was simple, but what he
achieved was a powerful new alterna-
tive shot, as you can see above. While
intuitive control is a big advantage of
the system, the ability to control light
precisely — as required in normal studio
lighting — is of great importance. As
you can see from the picture on the
right, the R1C1 plus three additional
SB-R200 units let you illuminate exactly
where you want on very small objects.
The system is like a portable pocket-
sized studio, but the level of precision
can still amaze even seasoned studio
photographers.
One remote unit is handheld by a photographer’s
assistant at an angled position, creating texture and
dimension.
Taken with one Speedlight
Playing with light: here, in addition to the small
SB-R200 above, another SB-R200 is handheld to
illuminate the flowers from below.
Main light from the camera’s left illuminates the bride’s
face. A second light from behind the subject reveals
details in the veil.
© Cliff Mautner
Speedlight group A
Speedlight group B
SU-800 on-camera commander
© Cliff Mautner © Yves Paternoster
© Yves Paternoster
© Yves Paternoster