first real attempt at a photo shoot. C&C please.

Rick50 · Nov 10, 2014

dannylightning said:
without the flashes amd those settings I get nothing but a pure black photo so its letting in plenty of light from the flashes.

when the flashes are on and I go wider than f/16 I no longer have a nice solid black background and I can see all the wrinkles in the back drop.

If you have the speedlites turned down all the way you can always reduce light more by going to high speed sync and then going faster than 1/200 for shutter speed.
Also, I really found it beneficial on lighting to watch some You Tube videos by Tony Corbell. Excellent teacher on lighting. Just do a You Tube search.

Braineack · Nov 10, 2014

shoot-throughs seem to take up more space and bounce are a little more directional so your light doesnt spill all over.

dannylightning · Nov 10, 2014

1/200 is as fast as my camera will give me when I am using a flash. I do not have a high speed sync option on this camera.

I am thinking about trying the lumiquest softobox LTP , I have been doing allot of reading about smaller flash diffsuers over the last few days and these sound like a very good option, they are kind of small but still a descent size. I watched a few video reviews on these, read some online reviews and read some reviews on the websites that sell them and it seems like people really like them. I have saw some photos taken using these and they also show the same photo taken with just raw flash, they really seem to reduce the shadows and they also seem to spread the light out pretty well.

Rick50 · Nov 10, 2014

I have a lumiquest and it works, better than bare flash. A bit small so I tend not to use as a main light but for fill. I agree with Braineack about bounce. A piece of white foam board from HD would work to bounce off of.

dannylightning · Nov 10, 2014

the lumiquest ltp is 10x14 inches, same thing as the smaller ones just bigger and about the same price..

having something to bounce off of would be nice but I am not sure if you mean using it as a reflector or putting it up on the ceiling or bouncing it out of a umbrella instead of shooting thew the umbrella

Rick50 · Nov 10, 2014

You can place on ceiling or wall then aim the flash into at an angle so the light bounces off onto the subject. The light really spreads this way and softens up. I have a white sloped ceiling in my living room (studio) and I'll do a little test for ya.

This guy has a very good website about speedlite flash.
Tangents — photography by Neil van Niekerk

dannylightning · Nov 10, 2014

cool thanks. down in the basement I would definitely need to add some white boards or something to make that work.

from what I can tell the light from the speed lights spreads out pretty well already, I am new to this kind of thing so what do I know. my subjects seem lit well that is why I say that.

Rick50 · Nov 10, 2014

Here is the result:
1st shot shows the setup.
Model at left.
Small square softbox pointing at model (approx size to lumiquest).
Bare flash in front of softbox aimed up at ceiling. Now I do have a big white ceiling so better for me.
Camera and laptop with a tethered connection to camera (different discussion).

With only the softbox firing: 1/200 F/4 lite in ETTL mode.
The big softbox not used at all.

With only bounced light. 1/200 F/1.4 ETTL mode.

See how much softer the 2nd lite is because of the size.

dannylightning · Nov 10, 2014

the second one looks better for sure, did you just aim the softbox up at the ceiling for that one ?

Rick50 · Nov 10, 2014

No softbox at all, just the flash pointed at ceiling. See top photo.

dannylightning · Nov 10, 2014

Well I'll have to see if I can get some white boards up, I'll have to see what the people I rent from think about that though

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