First off camera flash shots.

[reznap]

Flash positioned in all pics high and to the cameras left. I tried other stuff but I'm sharing the ones that I think came out good. Most of these shot on either half or full power with the flash as far away as I could keep it (silly snap on diffuser gave me harsh shadows..).

So I'm humbly asking for advice when it comes to flash. My cheap radio trigger (cowboystudio) does not allow me to do TTL but I don't mind futzing with manual settings. Can't wait to get another flash and trigger. Thanks for looking!!

#1 - sun behind her

#2 and #3 - about the same picture, like 20 seconds apart.

#4 - this was tricky... it was DARK under the bridge. Suggestions?
The mega-bright highlights on her hair and neck are on purpose, but a bit bright, I know.. I positioned her in the sun - I think the end result is ok even if they're a bit right of the histogram.

And a bonus HDR that was unplanned and I thought looked kinda cool.. 3 shots, handheld and then tonemapped. Tried to keep it tasteful..

 

[supraman215]

Great stuff. These are the kinda pics I want to get of MY daughter.

 

[DerekSalem]

Although I wish the green was a little brighter (not saturation, but rather I wish the bracket were bigger so it would appear brighter) the HDR pic is great!

Lighting is definitely my biggest downfall, but those pictures look completely fine to me. Maybe a tad underexposed but good overall.

 

[reznap]

Thanks! It's tricky with the flash.. Gotta expose for the surroundings with shutter speed, aperture for flash - at least someone said that a while back and it made sense to me. I could brighten the greens a bit in that HDR, I just didn't want it to look like cartoon.

Also thanks to Supraman, and a tip: I tell her a bird pooped on my head or that I pooped my pants or something to get her to laugh :greenpbl:

 

[sleist]

I like them all. Nicely done. I even like the HDR! The only one I can pick a nit with is #4. How hard would it be to remove her shadow in post?

2 & 3 are excellent.

 

[reznap]

How hard would it be to remove her shadow in post?

To completely remove it and make it look ok? Near impossible. I could lighten it up some though. These were more of a 'let's try out something new and make mistakes so we know what not to do next time' set of pictures - but I think I ended up with a few printworthy snaps.

Thanks for all the good comments

EDIT: Here's more.

This would have been better if she weren't moving her left arm... oh well. I had a lot of ones to delete, eyes closed, etc...

 

[Derrel]

For a first effort, these results are super. You're missing it by only "this much". I'd say plus .5 EV on the flash and the majority of these would be perfect, as-is, OR, and this is what I think, if your RAW conversions were a little bit more aggressive, your fill-flash would look almost perfect. Later afternoon and partly cloudy days like this one are almost ideal for this kind of shooting, as are shaded areas; the lower light levels keep shutter speeds down, and keep apertures modest, so you have at least a little bit of control over the ambient (background) lighting, and are not permanently stuck on something like ISO 100 at 1/200 second at f/16, like you would on a sunny day in August.

I'll just briefly re-state my feeling about this set: if you were to lift the curves up in post processing and brighten up the mid-tones, these original captures will look almost perfect. The current look of these shots is a slight bit too dark, a slight bit too flat. ALl they need is a slightly more-aggressive post processing and bingo! Perfect. Your third shot, of her seated in front of the covered bridge, is an almost perfect example of great fill-flash. Very good balance of natural and flash lighting. it could be "oomphed" up just a wee bit,and it would be even better. Again, for a first effort, these results are super. I have seen much worse tenth efforts!

 

[TaraW]

May I ask what flash you have?

 

[TaraW]

Nevermind...its right in your tag.

 

[reznap]

Thanks Derrel! I'll give the processing another shot when I get home from class. I'm a little lost at how to only brighten the midtones.. Can I just do this to the 16-bit TIF file with the curves adjustment?

I had a 1/2 CTO gel on the flash, I think it worked well when used in the "sunnier" shots.

Thanks for the replies everyone

 

[Aye-non Oh-non Imus]

Do you find anything odd with #4?

 

[reznap]

Bumped this up a 2/3 stop and added some contrast. Is this an improvement? I'm seeing the others as a bit dark now as well... maybe because it's darker in the room and the screen looks brighter? Maybe I just needed someone to bring it to my attention, who knows.

 

[Derrel]

You know, I think I would be very tempted to shoot in these exact conditions with the flash directly on-camera, as on-axis fill lighting. With the flash right on the camera, the sunlight will be the "main" light, and the flash,right on the camera, will deliver perfectly on-axis fill-in lighting, and will give catchlights in both eyes. And yes, these are a little bit dark, or underexposed, according to the histograms on the three shots I pulled into Photoshop. With the flash high and off to the left, the flash is acting as a second light,and casting its own shadows. With the flash right on the camera, you'd pick up a second catchlight in the eye located camera right, and the shadows created by the flash would be more along the lines of pure fill light.

Just as an aside--many people would come away from this type of situation with dismal results, and yours are far from that. Just look at how cute the shot immediately above this is: your little daughter, perfectly exposed in front of a wonderful old covered bridge, on a sunny spring day!

 

[kodakan]

really nice photos. can you tell me how you positioned/focused the flash in the photos?

 

[reznap]

Thanks again Derrel, I'll remember that next time.

really nice photos. can you tell me how you positioned/focused the flash in the photos?

Er, it's about 8 feet from her and 6 ft high, usually at full power with a snap-on type diffuser on front and a 1/2 CTO gel. The flash itself is set for 50mm.