Nikon SLR Cameras

What's the ideal settings for these speedlight situations?

Jake
Jake

For example indoor with a bouncer on my speedlight
And outdoor also with a bouncer on, I'm currently using a Nikon SB-24, Nikon D3200 and a 1.4 prime 50mm lens

deep blue2
deep blue2

There are no 'magic' settings - it depends on how you want to light the subject, whether you want to blend in the ambient, how close you are to your subject etc.etc.

If you are shooting with the lens open (for shallow depth of field) then you will need less flash power than if you shoot stopped down.

Do a test shot and adjust accordingly. If you don't want to do test shots then buy a flash meter. You will get to know your equipment/settings over time & instinctively 'know' what you'll need. I can usually get in the ballpark on the first shot, then it's a question of fine tuning the lighting.

You're using a bounce light outdoors? What are you bouncing it off?

Jeremy
Jeremy

No one is going to be able to give you the ideal settings, that's something you'll have to figure out when you get on location.

Indoors: What's the height of the ceiling? Is it flat? Is it arched? What's the color of the ceiling? What color are the walls? How many objects or pieces of furniture are in the room? How big is the room? What are you shooting? What color(s) are the subject you're shooting? Curtains or blinds? Will they be opened or closed? What other ambient light will be in the room? Day? Night?

Outdoors: Where outdoors? A park? A cave? Downtown in the city? A field? What time of day is it? Is it cloudy? Clear skies? Where's the sun? Where is your subject is relation to the sun? Shade? Partial shade? Will the flash be used as fill light? Or do you need to illuminate the subject? What color(s) are the subject you're shooting? What's the background like in relation to where the subject is placed?

There are Way too many variables for someone to give you ideal settings.

Eric Lefebvre
Eric Lefebvre

It depends on far too many aspects. How much light there's in the scnene, the style of image you want to shoot, the speed of the motion in the scene… Way too many variables.

Here is an example:

I shoot these for a friend who had just bought a DSLR and had no clue what anything did (no idea about shutter speed, aperture, ISO or how they worked together, no idea how to use his flash… ).

I shot these two portraits of him one after the other with very different settings. They aren't great shots (they were really just meant as an example) but which one is the BETTER image… Neither, it all depends on the type of shot your were tryin to achieve. The shot on the left is what we call a low key shot (normally I would have had a kicker light and a hair highlight to help separate the subject from the back ground but this was just a quick example) while the shot on the right is a more traditional portrait using a flash bounced to the right and the ambient light for the background.

Same lighting conditions but different settings for different results.