
One strong light from
outside a window
World-renowned photojournalist Joe
McNally has some advice when taking
pictures. “The most important thing is to
first see the picture in your mind’s eye,”
he says, “Everything comes naturally
from there, such as where to place the
camera and how to light your subject.”
While shooting high-school athletes in a
locker room, Joe envisioned a picture of
his subject in golden, late afternoon light.
To create the right environment, he posi-
tioned a camera low using a wide-angle
lens. Then, he placed one Speedlight out-
side the window, distanced far enough to
create deep shadows across the lockers.
Using a Color Filter in order to warm the
light appropriately and zooming the flash
head to 200mm to concentrate the light
on the athlete, McNally recreated the
shooting situation that he’d first con-
structed in his imagination. The picture
above looks like it was taken in the natural
light of a late afternoon, but in actuality
was shot using a Nikon Speedlight,
helping to maintain “Golden Hour”
lighting for as long as desired. With just
one Speedlight, the level of nuance to
explore is astounding.
6
7
Beautiful soft light
bounced off a wall
“Kids have their own agenda, even
while I’m shooting,” says child photog-
rapher Kathy Wolfe, “one of the key
principles of photographing children is
speed.” Wolfe has to find quality light
fast or quickly create her own when
needed, such as when in a low-lit room
while her child models remain
cooperative. The light and remarkably
portable Nikon Speedlights are always
in her camera bag. How she works with
the Nikon Creative Lighting System
(CLS) is simple but what she gets is sig-
nificant. She tilts the flash head of a hot-
shoed Speedlight toward a white wall
for a bounce-flash effect. This simple
act can transform harsh light into a soft,
smooth glow. Any large, white surface
can act as an impromptu light-softening
device — a simple technique that results
in richer colors like those you see here.
Wolfe almost always uses the i-TTL
flash mode. That way the innovative
Creative Lighting System calculates ideal
flash exposures for her automatically,
frame after frame, allowing her to
concentrate on capturing the moment.
See what just one Speedlight can do
On-camera bounce
Speedlight
SU-800
commander
TTL Remote Cord hot-shoed
with camera
The Speedlight’s flash bounces off the large white wall
behind the photographer, wrapping this low-lit room
with soft light.
Use your surroundings as a light-shaping tool: a
Speedlight placed outside the window recreates
warm, late afternoon light.
Wireless remote flash from the right side of the camera
erases unwanted shadows cast on the wall by the
window light from the left.
© Kathy Wolfe
Even with a single Speedlight, countless combinations
of subtlety and nuance can be explored.
© Joe McNally
© Kathy Wolfe © Joe McNally
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