For you Nikon shooters out there that have not yet had the opportunity to experiment with the Creative Lighting System (CLS), you are missing out.  While at first it takes some adjustments, it is really quite fun.  And while not the solution for every shoot, it certainly has it’s place within the photographer’s toolbox.

First, this is a result of boredom and curiosity.  I have to admit I have seen similar shots on Flickr which served as the inspiration behind this experiment.  I searched and searched but did not bookmark the exact shot that I used as a rough foundation, so please forgive me. I took a setup shot, and while it is relatively accurate, I did some minor adjustments before the final shot.  But overall, this is what it looked like:

On the kitchen island, I placed several tall glasses as the backdrop.  I figured that these, when hit with the Speedlight, would provide some nice bokeh curtain behind the figurine.  Since I left all of my light stands at the studio, I drug a stool and some boxes over to one side of the glasses.  I pointed the SB-800 toward the glasses.  Next, I setup the SB-900 on a tripod, shot through the umbrella to give a little softer light coming from above.  Everything was triggered with CLS (SB-900: +3.0; SB-800: +1.0; Built-In: Off).  On a tripod, I setup the D80 & 50mm.  The camera settings were ƒ/1.4, ISO 200, and shutter at 1/50.

Here is the result (including xpro treatment using Nik Color):

Next time I might try this with some gels.