Off-Camera Flash Photography with Nikon's CLS System

This video is an introduction to using Nikon’s built-in CLS (creative lighting system) to wirelessly trigger off-camera flashes. Many Nikon DSLR’s have the capability to wirelessly command and control off-camera flashes. This system is very powerful in that you can use both TTL and manual control and somewhat limited because infared is line-of-sight and has a limited range. The amazing thing about this is that you can control the power output of several flashes in different groups directly by using the built-on, pop-up flash from your camera.

In this video, I use a Nikon D700’s built-on pop-up flash to control an off-camera Nikon SB800 flash thru a small softbox and another SB800 thru a shoot-thru umbrella. By going into the flash control settings on the camera and setting the camera’s built-on flash to act as a commander, you can wirelessly control off-camera flashes directly from your camera.

I touch understanding a bit about different lighting zones – Ambient light, Key Light and Fill Light. All important to understanding how to dial-in the right amount of light for flash photography.

If you have any questions of comments, please leave them below or email adamlernerphoto@gmail.com

Setup/Gear Details: Nikon D700 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4 shot at 1/200, f4, ISO400 with 2 Nikon SB800’s, 1 small softbox, 1 26″ shoot-thru umbrella.