# Nikon flash -balanced mode



## mathjak107 (Apr 1, 2006)

i thought id clear up one of the least understood modes on nikon flashes.

its called ttl-bl or balanced mode..

nikon uses 2 distinctly different flash modes. ttl and ttl-bl.

in ttl there are 2 seperate exposure systems going on . the camera settings will expose for how dark or light you choose to make the background.the flash has its own exposure system built in and it controls the amount of light on the subject. the 2 systems dont communicate and its very easy to over expose if ambiant light is high. this is the mode typically used in dimmly lite areas or dark areas. its like to seperate camera exposure systems. this is your normal flash mode.

in ttl-bl the camera and flash communicate and the flash takes all kinds of ambiant light and distance to the subject info into a calculation and will then elevate a subject up to the brightness of the background , this is great for shooting objects against a bright sky or backlite subjects. it will not make a dimmly lite area any brighter like ttl will , it only balances to the level of light the background is at good or bad.

when using ttl i like to do the following. i turn auto iso off ,i use iso 200 and i put the camera in P or program mode.

why programmed mode?

because every camera has a maximum speed after which flash output is greatly diminished.its usually between 1/200-1/320 on nikons depending on model.... its listed as sync speed on your camera spec.

when shooting in daylight if your in A or aperture priority the camera can and will pick a speed faster than your sync speed if you open the lens to much. programmed mode is smart and knows not to go faster then your sync speed even if your not smart enough to notice,..... most people call the P mode the idiot mode, i call it the professional mode. most nikon pros use it when shooting in balanced mode so they dont have to keep track of hitting their sync speeds when shooting events..

try balanced for faces when shooting into bright backgrounds. i like to light up foreground objects that would normally be rendered black or dark because they are against light backgrounds.

these are shot in balanced mode









to get the bench this bright with no flash would have blown out the skies,balanced mode brought the bench up to the level of the background. i added a little more flash exposure to bring it up even more.









balanced flash intensified the green rocks









with no balanced flash the trees were black silouettes









the rock frame was just dark and featureless with out balanced flash









you can see where the range of the flash fell off creating a misty look on the water in the foreground as the background and foreground come together...


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## Chris90 (Apr 7, 2003)

mathjak, good stuff - does this work only with external flash? 

Your last link isn't working.


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## mathjak107 (Apr 1, 2006)

the built in flash is pretty much locked into balanced mode only...it lacks power though for most daylite shooting.


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## mathjak107 (Apr 1, 2006)

since you liked the ttl-bl info lets talk about the standard ttl mode. it works great for macro with the camera in manual. why manual ? because we have 2 exposure systems going on. the camera will handle the background. the flash will expose the subject with its own exposure metering system. manual lets you make the background as light or dark as you like and it lets you make the flash the dominant light even in daylight freezing movement as its way faster then your camera.

so heres what ill do when shooting macro in broad daylight. ill use iso 200, auto iso off.... ill pick a speed around 1/200th and ill start to try different apertures with the flash off until the background is as dark as i would like it to be,.. you can go blackbackground all the way up to full brightness but the darker you make the background the more the flash exposure will take over.

the flash is way faster then your cameras speed approaching at times 1/10,000 of a second. that can freeze things like bugs, like flowers blowing etc...

now turn on the flash and set it for about -2/3 or so... take a test shot and now adjust the flash compensation for a good exposure on your subject.

its sooooo easy to do once you get the hang of it.

these all used the flash in daytime to freeze the action and stop the bees from bluring. the whole key is to try to get the flash to be the dominant light in daytime. notice i adjusted the background on the bees to be as bright as i could while having the flash stop action. on the flower i adjusted the aperture smaller darkening the background to almost black.


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