Self Portraits with Off Camera Lighting C&C

[BekahAura]

I just got my starving student lighting kit (recommended by the Strobist), of course the flashes were out of stock so I'm using my dad's SB-28 for now.

I used the sun and one flash with a shoot through umbrella. My ISO was set to 200 on all of them (the lowest on my Nikon D50).

I'm not a model and I know the posses and expressions kind of suck. I took about 90 shots and in most of them I look concerned (is my flash gonna go off? When is the timer going to stop? lol), so these are the best I have.

How is my lighting? Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated!

1) 1/4 flash power
1/500s f/5.6
shot at noon

2) 1/4 flash power
1/500s f/5.6
shot at noon

3) 1/8 flash power
1/250s f/4.5
shot around 3pm

4) 1/8 flash power
1/500s f/5.6
shot at 3:30 pm

5) Full flash power
1/500s f/5.6
shot around 4pm

 

[gardy90]

i think 3 is the best to me, the color in the rose gives a nice hint to the black shirt

 

[verticalization]

I cant really give you any comments on the lighting, i'm new to that myself.. however, it looks like you're doing good, i'd just be careful about cutting off your limbs/elbows in the photos. Which, i guess can be pretty tricky if you're taking self portraits.

 

[MDWine]

I agree about #3, but #4 is pretty close behind.
I think you might have gotten your 'brella a bit closer in #5, but it's not so bad either!
Other than the bit of chopping off, it looks like you're progressing pretty well.
I applaud you in that you took the time to actually work on it.
Keep up the good work!!

 

[BekahAura]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your comments and suggestions! Hopefully I'll have some models to practice on soon, so I can concentrate on the lighting.

 

[templatephotoshop]

2 and 4 need to be darker. The flash really shows too much. It's a good start, would like to see some more when you only have to focus on the lighting and exposure. It's so hard to do it all.