Portrait Practice

smoke665 · Sunday at 7:46 PM

I've been trying to regain some experience in ambient portraits, especially with HSS. These were taken today.

First is a color version, Shot at 1/400, f/2.8, 180mm

April 202520250427_0097.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

Next up B&W conversion same settings.

April 202520250427_0106.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

Last B&W conversion same settings.

April 202520250427_0098.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

I'm actually preferring the B&W over the color. I didn't use color correcting gels on the flash and it's showing. All editing done in LR, I'm really liking the latest updates.

cgw · 2025-04-28T15:54:00-0500

Nice series. Ever have a look at the HSS tutorials here? Studied the technique but never did anything with it. Maybe this summer...

Strobist: Control Your World With Ultra-High Sync

strobist.blogspot.com

DanOstergren · 2025-04-29T16:52:49-0500

Could I ask what size modifier you were using? If you use a larger modifier, you can get lighting that will illuminate the hat above the brim, as well as lighting the eyes under the brim, and it would also create catchlights that are a little bigger, bringing focus to her eyes.

smoke665 · 2025-04-29T18:15:00-0500

cgw said:
Nice series. Ever have a look at the HSS tutorials here? Studied the technique but never did anything with it. Maybe this summer...

Strobist: Control Your World With Ultra-High Sync

strobist.blogspot.com

No , I'll check it out. I've used HSS before (another camera flash) with good success. I've had issues with the current Pentax flash since I bought it, especially when shooting HSS. Rather than fork out another $$$$ for occasional use, I'll probably switch over to an ND filter/flash.

cgw · 2025-04-29T19:17:49-0500

smoke665 said:
No , I'll check it out. I've used HSS before (another camera flash) with good success. I've had issues with the current Pentax flash since I bought it, especially when shooting HSS. Rather than fork out another $$$$ for occasional use, I'll probably switch over to an ND filter/flash.

David Hobby's "Strobist" site brought off-camera speedlight techniques to the masses. Long-running, seminar-like lessons and projects. Well worth a look sometime.