I got a second flash! And gels! And built a ghetto ringflash! First shots!

Tim Kamppinen

Forgive my overexcitement, but when I got into portrait photography a few months back, I was super pumped about being able to fire my flash off camera, etc. and took a bunch of photos of myself (the most available model) and some friends... and then I got tired of taking one-light portraits and put photography on the backburner for a while. Chalk that up to my lack of imagination, because I'm well aware of the great variety of looks and wonderful shots that you can get with just one light... I just ran out of ideas. Well, now that I have finally acquired a second flash (a Nikon SB-28, great compliment to my SB-600... actually, it's a little more powerful and I find myself using it as a main) and a bunch of gels, my creative juices are flowing again. I also got some great cheap gridspots ($25 for a set of 4, ranging from 20 to 50 degrees) from saxonpc.com, and when I ran out of money I shifted into DIY mode and made a 20x30 softbox out of foamcore, aluminum foil, and a cheap low-threadcount bedsheet. I also made a small softbox, about 7x9 inches, similar to the Lumiquest SBIII, with the scraps leftover from building the large softbox, and I made a DIY ringlight out of a cheap plastic bowl from walmart and an empty (and washed!) can of Dinty Moore beef stew, which I had to eat first, unfortunately.

Armed with these tools I went over to my friend Trevor's house to take some shots of him and his sister Taylor, who has served as my experimental model in the past with much success. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on these shots, especially any ways they might be improved. (also, I'd like to know what you think about the gelled background... I love the lighting effect but I think I might have overdone it with the red gel... the wall wasn't white though so I figured I'd rather pick my own color than go with the boring tan paint that was on it... if you looked at my other thread with the family portrait by the fireplace, these were shot with that wall as a background. Looking back I think I maybe should have dropped the background exposure a stop or so as it's blown out in some spots. What do you think?)

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And just for fun (I call this one "Sexy Beast")...

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My inspiration for the close headshots were some shots by Platon of Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, and Jude Law that someone posted on the strobist discussion forums a while back. I used my mini-softbox very close, like 2 inches above their foreheads, in order to get plenty of falloff and to kill the ambient, and my ghetto ringflash for even fill (stopped way down though). They ended up pretty much as I had envisioned, which doesn't happen that often.

Thanks for looking, and let me know what you think.

Shootin1st

Saw #3 and knew what was coming...

6 is awesome.

Benjer

#5 is amazing - looks like a painting.

would love to see the "ghetto" ringlight you made!

divamum

Let's hear it for DIY studio equipment (I also went the DIY softbox route - amazing what you can do with a soda carton, craft foam and some duck tape...!)

I'll let the resident experts comment technically (I'm still at the beginning of this learning curve so don't feel I have much to offer ... yet ) but I think these are great!!!

ETA: Thanks for the link to the flash grids - those are cool (and cheap!)

clemensphoto's

Very nice with limited means. I have to say that #6 is by far my fav. Great job.

Qarik

6 is fabulous.

Nikolai

Very nice, looks like you're on the right track, since you are able to get what you want!

Agnieszka

I envy you for the ring flash ... I am meaning to get one for a while now :cry Very cool photos, favorites are: 3, 5, 6 .... and ... raaarrrrrrrr #7