These are photos of two of my friends. I just wanted that one light feel, so I shot a 580EXII into a 43'' reflective umbrella, triggered with Cybersyncs. It seems that in this 1 light workshop DVD, he's not as concerned about a technically perfect shadow he just follows a few "guidelines", so I took a similar approach.
Sam Hassas wrote:
Both good. 2 is gooder. Blue sky could bit a weeee bit bluer. I can really see your growth from the last few months Rob. Bravo.
~Sam
Wow! I am happy you took the time to view my images. I see a lot of your work, and I hope I can produce images half as nice as yours some day. I'm also surprised that you've remembered my previous work.
Thanks!
Todd, thank you too. I really enjoy everything I'm learning here. It's a long road ahead but it's going to be fun!
Thank you aggression. I appreciate the kind words.
At first, I didn't think I did that well. These were just shots on my birthday (yeah, for my b-day I wanted to take pictures) of my friends in the backyard. I posted them on my facebook and myspace, and have gotten a good bit of compliments, so I thought I'd take my chances on some FM critique.
These are very nice one light shots. Learning to use one light off camera is great for discovering where to put a key light to create various highlight patterns, but much of the mood and message of a photo is a factor of controlling the shadows which is a matter of controlling how the shadows are filled.
For example you might want to take note of the difference in the shadows of the two shots resulting from the difference in reflectance of the off the light and dark shirts the guys were wearing. The fill in the shadows of the key light created by the white shirt in the first shot opens up the shadows enough to overcome the short range of the camera and reveal some detail, giving it more interest for me than #2 where all the shadow detail is lost.
Outdoors the open sky normally provides a good amount of fill, but when the background is darkened more than normal as in these shots it will also cut down the amount of fill the sky is providing. If you also had a fill source on the camera it can be added, or not as the situation dictates to control the shadow detail and mood, giving #2 the same level of shadow detail, more or less, with complete control rather than letting the shadows fall wherever the ambient light level and camera sensor range put them.
I understand. I couldn't have explained it like you, but I think I get it.
Pretty much, the sensors range can't record everything in the photo from black black to white white. The white reflects some, and gives some fill to the shadow. The black shirt doesn't reflect, making the black go to black. Since I under exposed the sky to try and get it to look "bluer", I lost some of the benefit of the outdoor fill. Probably also didn't help that I hit the contrast up a bit too.
Not just trying retype what you typed, just seeing if I understand or comprehend it. Chuck, you've been a great help to me and I truly do appreciate it.
but very nice.