Tried Out Some Speedlights on the Wife Today.

[Scoody]

Took the wife to a park just down the street from our house. Set up the speedlights and snapped off a few. Especially liked this one.

 

[Didereaux]

Took the wife to a park just down the street from our house. Set up the speedlights and snapped off a few. Especially liked this one.

How many, and what placement? It needs some work. Like the comp though.

 

[sscarmack]

Bare flash?

 

[Scoody]

Two speedlights in front, one behind her. No umbrellas. Had to go with the bare flash cause it was a bit windy and the stands with the umbrellas were causing the stands to blow over.

 

[tirediron]

Interesting; this is a somewwhat unusual perspective, but I rather like it. I wish you had modified the lights a little bit as the shadows are rather harsh, but the idea works, and I think it would be worth going out again, preferably on a calm day.

 

[Braineack]

why is the image quality so absolutely abysmal?

 

[Scoody]

why is the image quality so absolutely abysmal?

Part of it is the way Photobucket compresses a big file. Also using Picasa to process it instead of Photoshop.

 

[D-B-J]

I think the biggest issue is flash-power ratio here. It looks like your fill (behind?) flash is much stronger than the two front ones. This leads to a confusing lighting pattern, where the "shadow" or "darker" areas are actually brighter than the focus of main part of the face. You want your MAIN light to look like a main light, and be powerful enough to match. The fill should be around a stop or more (depending on your proximity, modifier, etc) below your main. Keep at it!

Jake

P.S. I do like the composition. Not an angle we typically see.

 

[Scoody]

P.S. I do like the composition. Not an angle we typically see.

I had her stand on a park picnic table. Put the two speedlight setup on the table in front of her, the single behind her at the max height of the stand. I wish I could have shot through some umbrellas but it was a bit blustery for that.

 

[Braineack]

why is the image quality so absolutely abysmal?

Part of it is the way Photobucket compresses a big file. Also using Picasa to process it instead of Photoshop.

poor thing...

 

[Didereaux]

Two speedlights in front, one behind her. No umbrellas. Had to go with the bare flash cause it was a bit windy and the stands with the umbrellas were causing the stands to blow over.

That explains a lot. All the lights were below her. YOu only put main light shining up if you are taking a shot of Boris Karlof. And as someone said earlier the ratios are definitely in need of tweaking. ...and simple on flash diffusers would not blow away

 

[Derrel]

It does have a certain theatrical quality about it...it feels very old-fashioned, very "1950's illustrative photography" in its style and approach.