First Attempt At Off Camera Flash With My Son...C&C Please!!

[DavidSR]

Ok, here's my 1st strobist attempt..one Vivitar 285HV..held at arms length (that's right, held lol) in a DIY softbox..I suppose you can call it that.
C&C Please.

Thank you!!

Edit: I just realized I didn't completely paint the background black.

Larger Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3399/3448573869_52359f4bde_b.jpg

DIY Softbox:

 

[hankejp]

I think that is a lovely picture. You mentioned that you didn't completly paint the background black.

Could you elaborate on what it is you did to achieve the blackness in the picture. I would be interested in doing something like this.

Thank you

 

[DavidSR]

Thank you!! All I did to get the BG black was to get a paintbrush with black and paint the area that I wanted to be black. That was in Photoshop CS4, but I'm sure there are plenty of ways of doing this.

 

[hankejp]

Thank you!! All I did to get the BG black was to get a paintbrush with black and paint the area that I wanted to be black. That was in Photoshop CS4, but I'm sure there are plenty of ways of doing this.

Cool, and here I thought you had your son sit in a completly dark room and then take the picture.

 

[bdavis]

In reality all you would have to do to get the background black is up your shutter speed....no post processing needed.

This is actually nice lighting, but watch the highlights on the lighted side of his face, they look pretty "hot"

 

[DavidSR]

Thanks for the comments!! I had the fastest shutter possible, but I think some of the flash spilled into the background and lighted my living room floor so I had to paint it black. I know his face was a little hot and I did try to burn it a little so it wasn't so blown..but hey..this is the best I could to with holding my flash and having a son that is constantly on the move.

 

[Derek Zoolander]

what did you make your softbox with?

 

[DavidSR]

It was something like this..with white paper taped to the inside and the cover is already white and not translucent so it served as a reflector and bounced more light forward..I also cut a hole in the top for the flash and that was it