my speedlight is here!

about a week ago got my new Nikon sb-600 Speedlight. i was SO happy and excited to try it. i honestly thought this thing was going to be as easy as putting it on my camera, turning it on, and taking pictures. well.... that is SO not the case. it takes a lot of practice and i have already been through one set of batteries. (it takes four double A's). so in case you can't decide what to get me for my birthday, it looks like i am going to be needing LOTS of double A batteries.

this was one of the first pictures taken with my new speedlight. i thought i did a pretty good job considering i had no idea what i was doing.this one was taken the next day. i was REALLY excited about this one. but then realized i didn't get the catchlights in his eyes like i wanted. that is when i started to get frustrated.
so try, try again... cute picture, but pinlights, not catchlights. boo! anger starting to build and starting to wonder if i got a dud speedlight. (if there is such a thing). i like to blame my equipment, not myself. i'm friendly that way.then i talked with a friend of mine (thank you Anne!). she told me to point my speedlight behind me. this is the result. i love LOVE this picture but i kind of feel like i cheated. he was facing our big window in the living room.so i took this one. (i promise i don't make my child vacuum. he enjoys it all on his own. which is fine with me!)which took me back to the drawing board, thinking my speedlight was a dud, i am returning it, and never want to talk about it again.... but i found my manual and found something that made sense. (which honestly NOTHING really makes sense in those stupid manuals). i found the one page that said CHANGE THE BATTERIES OR RESET YOUR SETTINGS. i loved that sentence. this is the result with new batteries. (excuse the messy face. i gave the boys a 'chocolate cookie' aka Reeses Cup for a treat today).see the diff? his back was to the window, and the curtains were closed. i pointed the speedlight behind me, to the right, towards a window in the other room.

in the beginning, the reason i didn't think the problem was the batteries is because my speedlight would turn on, show me the settings, and even flash. but it wouldn't flash 100% of the time. which made me think it was broken. so basically if you NEVER read your manual, pick it up every once in awhile. you might learn a few things without your head exploding first. not only did i learn my speedlight will continue to work (but not 100% of the time) when the batteries are dead, i also learned how to reset all the settings. which (for me) is a great thing, because as it turns out when something isn't working right i have a tendency to press every button possible thinking it might be the magic button to make it work again.