My beautiful daughter

I'm trying to learn flash photography so I have to pay Ellen five bucks to sit as a model for me for an hour.
The trouble is, she's so beautiful that no matter what I do, the photos turn out great.

for this one I had flashes on light stands behind shoot through umbrellas on the left and right. The left flash was firing at a higher power. I'm triggering them with the on-board flash (set to not flash) via Nikon CLS.

Here's another one.

Having beautiful children is rough, isn't it. I have the same problem! I really like your second one, the composition works real well IMO and lighting excellent. This is where Nikon is stronger than Canon I feel. They do better with speedlights working together with the camera system. I use my Canon flashes with Pocket Wizards for a light on-the-go system which works pretty well.

Do you Remember what your settings were on in the secon picture? Aperature, shutter, focal length, iso, ect.....?

Also Great pics, I would say the second one is close to perfect in my book.

These are both real nice Mark. Beautiful girl. The lighting is very subtle and smooth. Most people probably wouldnt even think that you used any flashes for these, and that's a good thing in my book.

As for critique, I think the second one could use just a hair more fill on her left side to ease that shadow on her nose. That's pretty minor, and could easily be fixed in PP. I also think the second pic would make a very strong B&W. I actually tried it in PS, and it looked real good.

You had better go find yourself a big stick. She's gonna have young boys knocking at your door in no time!

Oh yeah, I forgot. 5 bucks!!?? Don't be such a cheapskate! What's minimum wage in oregon now? 8 bucks an hour or so?

She's adoreable Mark - you must be very proud.

I am fairly versed in Nikon flash so if ya hit a hurdle don't hesitate to email me.

Thanks everyone.

Paul,
Nikon D2x, (I guess I must actually have been using my Pocket Wizards to fire the flashes as the D2x doesn't have a built in flash)
28-70mm lens at 52mm
f/4 at 1/250 sec
I probably lightened the photo in PS

Thanks for the tip, Aaron.
William, Thanks, I'll do that.

Big stick, yeah I know.

Thx, Im a Beginner and trying to learn my way around my D80.
Its good to know what settings someone used when you see a good photo.

I like the light and shadows in both Mark, you filled the frame nicely, and maybe think of cropping the bottom picture taking her green knee? out. Just a thought. :)

Paul, I have a D80 also. I'd be glad to help you out in any way I can.

These are nice, Mark. You know I have Canon stuff, but what is your flash equip for this?

I like #2 more, mainly b/c the light is more balanced. Maybe a touch more light on her upper right side? You said in #1 that the light was stronger on the left than the right, was this 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1 power? Are your flashes the only light source (not window light)? I'm curious b/c I'd like to get better at this.

Finally, you said your bike's fixed. When do you want to singletrack???

Kevin

Really nice Mark. She's a cutie, so it's good you're working on your techniques to do her justice! Looks like your doing great.

I rarely take people shots, but my daughter wanted to play with some for her senior pictures. We did a couple of photo shoots in Oct/Nov. With this inspiration, I'll try and post a few since I likely won't be able to get out and do much nature stuff for a month or two.

Thanks again,

Kevin, it's a beautiful day today, I'm off to the Syncline in an hour or so!
I'm not sure about the power ratio, I should start keeping notes. It was evening so there was no window light but the lights were on in the house. The flashes overpowered those pretty easily though.

I usually start with one at 1/2 power and the other at 1/8 and go from there as far as ratio goes.

Hi Mark,
I like the comps a lot. You did a good job on the lighting for the second. For me, I'd like to see a bit of soft light from either below or from the side of the left side of her face.
As is, it's too dark for me.

Pocket Wizards? We bought Radio Poppers. We should do a comparison. We also use Gary Fong's Lightsphere for portraits. Check them out too.
Nancy

Camera left?
My goal is to have six SB-600 flashes to use for inside work. I'll also get the SU-800 remote commander to control them. That way, TTL or Manual, or whatever, I can set and change each flashes power from behind the camera.
For outside, the Nikon CLS doesn't work as well and it's there that I'll use the Pocket Wizards. The disadvantage will be that I'll have to run around and change the flash setting manually if I find I need to.
Do the Radio Poppers allow you to remotely change power levels in your flashes?

Yes, camera left so the left side of her face is a bit less shadowed. You caught the light in her eye really well, but what I'd like to see is the skin lit a bit more. See the inner brow on both images and you will notice what I'm getting at. (and it's not like I can do this really well, but have been studying and working on it myself)

That is why Rick bought the Radio Poppers.
Hey - I have another question. I was telling a friend that she should scan negatives and work her own images instead of trying to find a film devleoper around here. If she comes back and asks about scanners, is Nikon still the top of the line?

I don't want to go too even on her face. That would flatten out her face, wouldn't it? Maybe a bit lighter but not much.
The Radio Popper just got re-designed, did you see that? I just read about it yesterday.

As far as the scanner goes, the best one I know about is the one I'm borrowing from you and Rick "for the next year or so".