Lighting Ratio

This lighting ratio helps determine the amount of contrast between the highlights and shadows.

ratio	f-stop difference	description
1:1	no difference	flat lighting
2:1	1 Stop	general slide film
3:1	1 stop and 1/3 ish	black & white
4:1	2 stops	shadowing/contouring
8:1	4 stops-ish	dramatic low key

1:1 - two light sources with the same power
2:1 - if subject is shot at f5.6, then the background is twice the light, i.e. f8

Flash meters and manual control (multiple lights)

When you have multiple lights set up, you can turn them on one at a time, pointing the meter toward each light (not the camera) in turn.

By measuring each light separately, you can set the ratio between them.

Flash meters and manual control

measure exposure

• stand at the subject location
• point the meter toward the camera 
• fire the flash
• read the result and
• set your lens aperture accordingly

Nikon SB800 Color-Gel Filters

SB-800 comes with two colored Gel filters:

• the FL-G1 for taking flash pictures under fluorescent light and 
• the TN-A1 for use with incandescent/tungsten light

With digital cameras, if you shoot flash pictures under fluorescent light with the camera's white balance set to Flash, the main subject illuminated by the flash will look normal. However, the background will come out green. To compensate, use the FL-G1 (green gel filter) to convert the light coming from the flash to the same color as fluorescent light, then adjust the camera's white balance to Fluorescent. 


Follow a similar procedure when shooting flash pictures under incandescent/tungsten illumination using the TN-A1 filter. In this case, set the white balance to Incandescent.