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ronlane

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Mustang Oklahoma
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www.lane-images.com
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Had a western themed photo shoot with some photographer and model friends a few months ago and I am reviewing a few for some B&W conversions. A little more contrasty than I am use to using.

1) Ellie, "Howdy!"

Western_challenge-93-Edit.jpg


2) Cowgirl Up!

Western_challenge-104-Edit.jpg
 
Very well done Ron. Getting light in the eyes isn't an easy task with a wide brim hat, but you've done well here. On my phone they don't appear that contrasty but on a larger screen it might be different. The only nit I have is with the second shot, she appears to be slouching, especially around the shoulders.
 
Very good shots......

Thank you.

Very well done Ron. Getting light in the eyes isn't an easy task with a wide brim hat, but you've done well here. On my phone they don't appear that contrasty but on a larger screen it might be different. The only nit I have is with the second shot, she appears to be slouching, especially around the shoulders.

Thank you Smoke. They are contrasty for me, a lot more than I would have normally done. Yeah, I agree that she didn't pose that great. I didn't process too many images of hers. I'll see what else I have.

The only nit I have is with the second shot, she appears to be slouching, especially around the shoulders.
Hey, when your butt hurts from the saddle, everything droops:allteeth:

lol
 
The only nit I have is with the second shot, she appears to be slouching, especially around the shoulders.
Hey, when your butt hurts from the saddle, everything droops:allteeth:

Hey it only hurts for a bit, after awhile you get used to it and you sit taller in the saddle like the first cowgirl. By the stance and demeanor she looks like she's ridden a few miles. As a teen one of my after school jobs was to exercise/ride/train the neighbor's bay mares, so his grandkids could ride them when they came.
 
As I keeps saying, I'm no portrait tog so these look pretty decent to me. The only thing that jumps out is the heavy facial shadow on the first but if I took these I'd be well chuffed.
 
Well using an AD200 with the small reflector, you will get hard shadows, which I was expecting. It's is choices and knowing that in some situations there are trade-offs that you have to make. In this case it was working with multiple photographers and models so it was a limited time and we did not have any one-on-one time.

But thank you for the the input.
 
Well using an AD200 with the small reflector, you will get hard shadows, which I was expecting

Which could also be the reason you're seeing them as contrasty. A hard light tends to emphasis every thing from hair, to pores, anywhere there might be a shadow.

From the description of the shoot, you obviously had some difficulties in shooting. For the future, do they allow you to use a light stand??? If so, using a white lined reflective umbrella on a stand is easy to move, and easy to place. If I'm running and gunning, I do what I did back in the newspaper days, I use a flash bracket that moves the flash off camera, and lets me get a little larger modifier on the flash.
 
Well using an AD200 with the small reflector, you will get hard shadows, which I was expecting

Which could also be the reason you're seeing them as contrasty. A hard light tends to emphasis every thing from hair, to pores, anywhere there might be a shadow.

From the description of the shoot, you obviously had some difficulties in shooting. For the future, do they allow you to use a light stand??? If so, using a white lined reflective umbrella on a stand is easy to move, and easy to place. If I'm running and gunning, I do what I did back in the newspaper days, I use a flash bracket that moves the flash off camera, and lets me get a little larger modifier on the flash.

Had the light on a light stand (C-stand). It's the being outdoors and not wanting to have gear blown over and broken. Plus as I said it was a choose. Not every situation has to have that super soft lighting. I'm happy with these images or I wouldn't share them.

Having super soft light and very little shadows on her face just doesn't match the scene in my opinion.
 
Having super soft light and very little shadows on her face just doesn't match the scene in my opinion.

No argument from me on choice of light, just mentioned because of your earlier comment about contrast. The harder the light the more edgy the image tends to be. Personally as I said earlier I didn't notice excessive contrast, but again that can be preference as well.

On another note have you ever tried bare (no modifier) HSS. I believe the AD200 supports it. I've been experimenting with outside portraits using it, and like how it seems to meld ambient and flash better, creating crisp colors. I'm afraid it's making me somewhat lazy, as today at a Fire Department event, all I used was AV mode with flash set to HSS P-TTL. It was nice to walk around firing off shots without worrying with exposure settings other than the occasional EC adjustment.
 
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Having super soft light and very little shadows on her face just doesn't match the scene in my opinion.

No argument from me on choice of light, just mentioned because of your earlier comment about contrast. The harder the light the more edgy the image tends to be. Personally as I said earlier I didn't notice excessive contrast, but again that can be preference as well.

On another note have you ever tried bare (no modifier) HSS. I believe the AD200 supports it. I've been experimenting with outside portraits using it, and like how it seems to meld ambient and flash better, creating crisp colors. I'm afraid it's making me somewhat lazy, as today at a Fire Department event, all I used was AV mode with flash set to HSS P-TTL. It was nice to walk around firing off shots without worrying with exposure settings other than the occasional EC adjustment.

Yes the AD200 supports it. I have shot some with it bare bulbed but not bare and HSS. I need to experiment more with HSS because I haven't been able to get the results I want with HSS.
 

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