Girlfriend

[anthonydamario]

My girlfriend let me take some pictures of her tonight. It was my first time using my new SB-600 plus an umbrella. C&C appreciated.

 

[anthonydamario]

Bump.

 

[anthonydamario]

125 views and no one?

 

[Moe]

Pretty good for your first attempt. These are just a couple thoughts...

One of the things I notice right off the bat is composition. There's quite a bit of empty space at the top. Another is the lighting. With the lighting position and her proximity to the background, you can't expose her properly without overexposing the background. Another thing is there's quite a shadow falling across her face. You could move the light a bit down and to the right, and/or use a reflector. The reflector I use is a piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil. It's really amazing how much light it reflects back. Also moving the light closer to her makes the shadows a bit softer, as this makes it a larger light source.

You're gonna have fun with off camera flash. What are you using to trigger the SB-600?

 

[anthonydamario]

Thanks for the input. And I'm using my D70's commander mode unfortunately. I've had a lot of issues getting both of my flashes to fire and its a big hassle.

 

[ifi]

Good first attempt from light point of view. Composition is important as well

 

[tirediron]

Some thoughts in no particular order:

-Expose for the left side of her face; it looks about one stop under-exposed right now, and reduce your key-light accordingly.

-The empty space above is wasted and detracts from the image.

-Don't forget to level images in post.

If you're shooting with a single light, than consider using a reflector to supply some fill-light on the other side. Even just a big piece of white poster-board would work.

J

 

[anthonydamario]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I forgot to crop in post, I don't really feel like going back to it though.