Start using your speedlite as a remote flash

For years I have had a least one Nikon speedlite and have always used it on my camera and never as a remote. The reason for this is because I was just too intimidated by all the in camera and flash settings that needed to be set. Recently I took a few minutes to play with my flashes, Nikon SB900, SB800 and SB600 only to find out that setting them up wasn't that hard at all. Christmas day when we were opening our presents I took my SB900 and set it to remote and placed it on one side of my 20x20ft den and bounced it off the ceiling. This let me eliminate hot spots and the red eye from my pictures and also eliminated the weight of the flash off of the camera. I used the on camera flash as commander to operate the remote and it worked very well.

So my tip this time is to let you know if you haven't tried using your flashes as remotes due to being intimidated by the settings you really need to take a little time out and play with you camera and flash, using it as a remote light source, because it opens up all kinds of new opportunities with your photography. It really isn't as hard as you might think it would be.

Just a personal note about my flashes........
I have my SB900 set to channel 3 group "A", my SB800 set to channel 3 group "B" and my SB600 set to channel 3 group "C". By having them set up this way if I use one flash on my camera I use the SB900 and all I have to do is turn it on and it is ready to go. If I use one flash off camera I grab the SB900 and flip it to remote and it is ready to go. If more light is needed I just grab the next flash which is the SB800 and it is already set up to go so all that is needed is to turn it on a place it where it is needed. Same goes for when I need a third flash , the SB600 is already set and all that is needed is to take it out of the bag and turn it on because like the other two I just leave them set up all the time. I know that most of you will probably only have one speedlite and do not have the option for multiple flashes but I mention this just to show you one of the many options that you can have with having one or more flashes in your camera bag.

Bottom line is that if you have not tried using your speedlite as a remote, take a few minutes to play with it and figure it out because it is very useful and really not as hard as you might think to set up.