Benee, I'm shooting around 30th to 60th of a second with this 300 F4. That alone is killing anything harsh. And the 550 is only 1/8 power, and approx 10 feet away. I shoot everything manual.
She's laying in the street in this shot, and her arm is on the sidewalk.
I'm holding the flash with my left hand.
Pflitz...don't take your reflector and go home (as others have done) and please keep posting...when I get down on my amateurish attempts I see one of your posts and head back out to try again.
Love the series. Beautiful girls, beautiful light, and great technique.
I love my Nikon 300 f4.0 , but could never go to 30 without tripod. Wish it had VR. 75 or 150 w monopod.
I do not get though why you say the slow speed takes away the harshness. Can u explain more. U say u are shooting f4 at 30-60th so that is not harsh light. That is more like golden light and pictures look like that. Harsh light would be maybe 1/4000 at f4. And your flash pulses are way shorter than the 1/30 so...
Let's say the light level for correct exposure at f4.0 is 1/4000. Also assume you can get enough FPC power out of flash to use as fill at 1/4000. How is that any different than using an 8 stop ND filter and shooting at 1/60.
Seems to me you are picking the correct time of day and positioning to get good light at f4 and 1/60 while only needing a touch of fill.
I am sure I could be missing something.
Not trying to be argumentative. Just trying to understand cause your results are worth trying to imitate.
I have had good luck underexposing background a bit, playing with wb and adding tungsten gel to get the look(read about that on one of the big guns sites quite a while back - do not remember who).
Appreciate it folks. They're getting a kick out of 'em.
Ask.. I'm not a gear head, so most of what you said went right over my head. Not being smart, it's just me. I have no clue about pulse rates, etc...
All I really know is that even without a flash, if I want to relax shadows, I start shooting slower. I'm only using the 550 for fill at times, and other's trying to get close to the back lighting, but shooting slower, helps me blend the two.
Now I have to learn a new camera body. Retired my 1D Mark ii.
These are really good. You inspired me to do the same the other day when it was too windy to shoot with an umbrella without flying away.
I'm curious what your thoughts are about the pinpoint catch lights. I'm not too fond of them on my shots as they look somewhat amateurish. Any thoughts of cloning them out?
I'm glad your customers are satisfied. These are beautiful shots.
But when you look critically at your work, do you think this shot would be better without catchlights at all or with the pinpoint catchlights from the bare flash?
http://www.keepsakephotography.us/Sam2.jpg
Just an honest question from a fellow shooter trying to learn.
mitchel674 wrote:
But when you look critically at your work, do you think this shot would be better without catchlights at all or with the pinpoint catchlights from the bare flash?
Nope... I don't get down deep into those details when trying to keep my nose above the water line.
