Dear Teddy

I recently invested in some lighting modifiers, including the a 8x12 flash-mounted softbox used here, and wanted to give them a try.  Being stuck at home sick definitely limited my choices of subject, so an old friend was tapped for picture duty.  I set my ISO and aperture to block out most of the ambient light and held the softbox above and pointed down towards the bear. 

So why a softbox?  A bare flash pointed directly at the bear from the same distance would have blown it completely out.  I would have had to move it much further away to work.

Another option would have been to bounce the flash off the ceiling or a wall, but that wouldn't have given me the nice catch lights in the eye and would have required more power from the flash. 

The softbox allowed me to keep the flash close and on lower power, allowing for fast recycling (the time it takes for the flash to be ready to fire again).  While this subject wasn't going to get impatient, others have been known to.  Look for more fun with light mods in the posts to come.

Nikon D90
50mm - ISO 200
1/160s- f/4

Nikon SB900
1/128 power @ f4
17mm zoom
Approximately 3' away from subject 
Pointed down @ 45-degree angle