Freezing Cold! But she was a trooper!

FotobyMoMo

Wanted to practice this weekend finally as I been doing a lot of that indoor. Wife said sure, she'll help as usual. Practiced with the zoning system. I wish it wasn't so windy by the river which cut our time short in 20 mins. But got some great shots.

These were all taken with 70-200. I didn't want to raise the aperture more than f/4 although I noticed couple were at f/3.2. Trying to fidn the sweet spot of it. I didn't like how the background turned with Leah & Rico's pictures, where were pretty much all shot at f/2.8

***On a side note*** and I may be wrong but with #5 set, I used the flash. Reading "dragging the shutter" I read that the shutter speed shouldn't change the lighting on the subject, but just the ambient and that ISO/Aperture would effect both. So I left ISO/Aperture alone and just continued to raise my shutter speed to darken the ambient light behind her. After 1/250 it was bad. I have a cheapo cowboystudio trigger. At 1/500 the subject and ambient light were both pretty much dark?

1.


2. These were also using OCF


3. Wanted to get the sun behind her on these shots


4.


5. These were both taken with flash. First one I watned to keep the the ambient light brighter then with 2nd I wanted to knock it down and really separate her from it.

justin24

Very nice use of fill flash. Lovely model too.

b08rsa

#5 with your PP work is very nice.

Tim Kamppinen

First of all, your wife is absolutely gorgeous, congratulations! Second, most of these are very nice. My favorites are #2 (the one on the left) and #4 (the one on the right).

The only ones that fall flat for me are the last two (#5), quite literally; the light is very flat as it looks to be coming from on-camera in these shots or at least very close to on-camera, and is clearly acting as the main source and not just fill. Also, in the very last shot, to darken the ambient it looks as though you must have stopped down your aperture quite a bit, making the background very distracting.

The reason everything got messed up when you went with higher shutter speeds is that your camera is not able to sync with the flash at speeds higher than 1/250 while using regular radio triggers. To do this you would need to use high speed sync with a HSS capable flash from your camera's manufacturer.

Icebear

#4 (right side) is my pick. I like the light in her hair, and the wrist just peeking out of the pocket. If it were mine, I'd lighten up a little on the vignette, but that's a minor matter of taste.

adbsgicom

2L and 4R are my faves. Angle/position in 2R -- her head is tilted up a bit too much, IMO. The flare on 3 doesn't work for me in part because there is so much on her head, but much less so on her jacket.

Regarding your question, yes, you can up the shutter speed to reduce ambient w/o affecting the flash up to the X-Sync speed for your camera, which is usually around 1/200 - 1/250. The way the shutter works, is that you have two curtains that start moving at different times based on the shutter. Once you are over X-Sync, the shutter is not fully open at any time for the flash to properly fill the frame. Nikon & Canon have what they call FP or HSS which changes how the flash operates from single strong pulse to a bunch of weaker pulses over a longer period. You lose light in this case, but can run the shutter clear up to 1/4000 if you want. However, once you start doing this, shutter speed does figure into the equation again since the period the strobe is on is now longer than the shutter window, thus longer shutter == more light. The ETTL/iTTL in the systems will include that calculation, but if you are running manual, you need to work that into the equation now.

FotobyMoMo

Thanks everyone!. Tim, I use the Canon EX580 mk1. Should I have been using HSS in M mode? I was under the impression that HSS didn't work in M mode for flash?

Also aside from the personal fav, how did I do with color and exposure on the pictures?

FotobyMoMo

adbsgicom wrote: »

2L and 4R are my faves. Angle/position in 2R -- her head is tilted up a bit too much, IMO. The flare on 3 doesn't work for me in part because there is so much on her head, but much less so on her jacket.

Haha yes 2b was a mistake shot.:D I had my speedlite in between my legs while I was trying to do something and accidently pressed te shutter. Had the camera pointed at her since it was resting on the monopod. The lighting was bit weird because the speedlite hit her from the bottom while the sun was hitting her from my right.

adbsgicom

Set one looks a bit green.
Manual on the strobe (at least my EX2) works fine in HSS mode. Hassle is that if the f/g looks fine at 1/4 power and you decide to stop the b/g down by 1/3 on the shutter, you need to bump the power to 1/2-0.7 to add f/g light.

FotobyMoMo

adbsgicom wrote: »

Set one looks a bit green.
Manual on the strobe (at least my EX2) works fine in HSS mode. Hassle is that if the f/g looks fine at 1/4 power and you decide to stop the b/g down by 1/3 on the shutter, you need to bump the power to 1/2-0.7 to add f/g light.

Perhaps I need better trigger like Pocket Wizzard?

adbsgicom

PW (TT1/5) only adds ETTL to the party. The trigger should trigger the strobe in whatever mode/setting you have it in.
So, if you want E-TTL remote strobes, Radio Popper and Pocket Wizard are the games in town that I know of. If you are fine w/o remote E-TTL, then stay with what you have if they work...

Tim Kamppinen

FotobyMoMo wrote: »

Perhaps I need better trigger like Pocket Wizzard?

With an Canon infrared trigger (se-2 or something like that, can't remember 'cause I'm a Nikon guy) or another 580 on camera, you would be able to trigger your flash optically off camera and still use HSS, either in manual mode or ttl. The newer pocket wizards can do it too but I know many canon users have had reliability problems so research it before you take that (expensive) plunge. The older pocketwizards (plus II) will NOT do HSS.

But as someone above mentioned, HSS does use a lot more flash power so it's not an end-all solution. Sometimes the only way to use a wide aperture combined with flash in bright light is to use neutral density filters and a more powerful flash unit.

Tim Kamppinen

adbsgicom wrote: »

PW (TT1/5) only adds ETTL to the party.

Really, I thought they did HSS too. Shows what I know about canon flash systems. Disregard my previous statement, then.

adbsgicom

Doing a quick test with the TT1/TT5, in manual mode (not using the ControlTL channel), the HSS will not fire, even though it works fine on the shoe. In E-TTL mode, the HSS engages properly. If you have the ControlTL channels enabled (E-TTL mode) and put the flash in Manual mode, you can control the HSS as well.

FotobyMoMo

Hmm I'll have to do some more research on this. I am sure the Strobist people can chime on this also.

l.k.madison

2L is the CLEAR winner for me, just stunning.

My only nit is that the jacket is a bit busy, it takes away from her face - which is why 1R and 2L are my personal faves.

Speaking of her jacket, I LLOOOVVVEEEE it!!! Hmmm... wonder if I can find that in my size

divamum

I'll fight you for that jacket, Lauren - I LOVE it!!

Nice shots Momo - some of the best from you I've seen - I especially like 3L and 4R.

FotobyMoMo

divamum wrote: »

I'll fight you for that jacket, Lauren - I LOVE it!!

Nice shots Momo - some of the best from you I've seen - I especially like 3L and 4R.

Thanks ladies! Means alot since I've started photography a little mora than 4 months ago.

The jacket can be found at Wet Seal so no fighting (unless it involves water or mud)

heatherfeather

Uhm my first thoughts were... the jacket! I looovie it. I am in on the wrestling.

My favs are 4 A & B. Gorgeous photos.

5, I think your flash is too hot for the situation. The goal is to make it not noticable, but still light the subject where she needs it.

Also, what are you modifying your flash with?

zoomer

Looks like a great outing.
She is obviously beautiful and you took some very nice photos.

FotobyMoMo

adbsgicom wrote: »

Set one looks a bit green.
Manual on the strobe (at least my EX2) works fine in HSS mode. Hassle is that if the f/g looks fine at 1/4 power and you decide to stop the b/g down by 1/3 on the shutter, you need to bump the power to 1/2-0.7 to add f/g light.

zoomer wrote: »

Looks like a great outing.
She is obviously beautiful and you took some very nice photos.

Thanks Zoomer and Heather!

Heather, I used the Sto-Fen diffuser on the 580ex. I do have a lightsphere 2 but I hardly use it anymore since it's too big to carry around sometimes. Is there a noticeable difference between 4A & 4B vs 5A? *Exclude 5B*

Hackbone

I've always had trouble with HSS on the PW T1 & T5. The most reliable system seems to be Radio Poppers. The placement of the unit on top of the flash is critical to its working properly. Just moving it a 1/4 inch can have misfires so you need to find the sweet spot. Their downside is the price and they are power hogs but onece set up they do work like a dream. HSS will work in manual with the poppers but when you put them into a soft box all capabilities are lost.

Tim Kamppinen

Hackbone wrote: »

HSS will work in manual with the poppers but when you put them into a soft box all capabilities are lost.

Why's that? Are you just saying that it eats too much power to be effective with HSS or that it literally won't work for some reason?

FotobyMoMo

I wonder what trigger Heatherfeather uses on her stick?? HEATHER WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!
Tim, I think that's what it is. I think HSS alone is loosing power because it's firing in pulses instead of one shot, like in M.