Product Description

Flash photography, especially advanced light modeling with modern iTTL flash systems, has become an art by itself, which should be mastered by every aspiring amateur photographer - and even professionals are often helpless when it comes to using the full potential of these systems.

Many photographers are already well versed in photography but don't have a clue about flash photography. It is a brand new world, so the book starts at a basic level and then moves up from there so that advanced users also gain insight.

The book shows a simple, step by step method for setting up and using the newest Nikon iTTL flash units. It solves people's frustrations with flash and specifically, shows them how to use their SB-900, SB-800 and SB-600 strobes. It also has a complete chapter showing system configuration so readers can duplicate the photos on their own.

The book teaches everything you want to know about using Nikon's iTTL flash system. It shows all the steps required to set up consistent and amazing flash photos.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25017 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 262 pages

About the Author
Mike Hagen, a mechanical engineer by training, worked for a semiconductor company for 10 years in various roles as an engineer, production manager and engineering manager.

His passion however is photography. He resigned from his corporate position in order to run his photography business full time. He leads photographic workshops around the USA and the world. These workshops are very successful and reach thousands of people every year. Topics include digital cameras, travel workshops, safaris, wireless flash, portrait photography, Photoshop, digital workflow, and Nikon Capture NX.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Book
This is an excellent companion to the Guide book which comes with the product. The author examines the Nikon Creative Lighting System in detail and the information is useful for both beginners and more advanced users.
The writing style is very readable and the contents set out in a logical manner. Useful as a good overall read and as a reference manuel when undertaking a specific task. The book also clarifies many of the technical aspects of the Nikon system

Overpriced and badly illustrated
I'd already bought the Nikon D300 book in the same series (which was really good) and that was one reason why I took a chance on this. This book really missed a lot of opportunities to show good examples of flash set-ups and tips for being really creative with flashlight. It does make the Nikon flash manuals slightly more accessible but it is seriously flawed by the terrible examples the author gives to illustrate his points. His portraits are some of the most dull and lifeless I have ever seen in print...not a good recommendation for Nikon's Creative Lighting System by any means.
As a working photographer there are about 10 percent of the photographic illustrations that I would consider giving to a client. The rest I wouldn't have taken in the first place or, if I had, I would have deleted within seconds.
I like the Nikon CLS (once I'd learned to set the AE-L/ AF-L button to FV lock to prevent sitters having half-closed eyes) but I'm sure I won't be alone in believing that trial and error experimentation has taught me more about flash placement than this book possibly could. At the recommended price it's well overpriced and rather nerdy in tone. A huge disappointment.

Excellent, readable, comprehensive work
This is an excellent book. It is aimed squarely at users of the SB600, SB-800 and SB-900 and R1C1 flash units.
Previous books on this subject have had a preponderance of general advice about flash photography. This book deals with the detail of getting the best from the flash units listed. Each flash is given a section of its own and the text and pictures go into close detail about its operations-down to the "What does this button do?" level. This is not to say that it is for novices: I am a professional photographer, have used Nikon flash gear for 20 years, and found a ton of stuff I didn't know.
The only slight criticism I have is the somewhat down-home, jokey nature of the text in some places. It never gets seriously annoying, but it does grate a little.
So, if you own any of the flash units with which it deals, then I would recommend this book most highly as a way of improving your knowledge of the units and hence improving your flash photography