Cheerleaders...

zoomer

Donated a photo shoot to my daughters high school cheer team. Had a lot of fun with the girls.
The last shot...the team picture. Kinda hate the guard rail background but there really was no moving them, due to end of the day wanting to be done attitude and where the light was.
Try to ignore that I put a really bad blur on the background. It is not on the original I was just playing with it on this small version...Looks bad I know.

adbsgicom

Lots to like!! I would have eased up on the detail enhance filtering on the skin in #4, but that's me. Tree shot is my favorite of the group, but it looks like fun was had by all...

divamum

You breed 'em pretty up there, don't you? Beautiful girls and fun shots. Love the tree!

Why not just clone the hill up to the edge of the frame and get rid of the guard rail (and redundant tree) that way? Won't take all that long and will definitely "make" the shot I think How'd you light that, anyway - it is SO nicely separated from the BG that I'm guessing there's flash involved, but with a group that large.... How'd you do it? Enquiring minds.....

zoomer

Thanks I tried cloning it a couple different ways....also cutting them out and putting them somewhere else. In the end nothing looked "clean" to me. I don't claim to have good photoshop skills beyond basic photo enhancement however.

One SB800 with softbox up high right above me....I cranked it to overpower the sun which was on my right. I knew I was going to hate the background when I took it so wanted them the group to stand out.

Sam

Very nice work.

Sam

divamum

How big was the soft box? What's impressing me is the even spread across the group with ONE light ~zoomer demonstrates his awesomeness again~

zoomer

Thanks. By having it right above me, reduces unmanaged shadows, high up shining down, even light for everyone.
I think the softbox is 42".
You would laugh if you saw it...it has hit the concrete 5 or 6 times and has pitch all over one side of it....I go through a lot of them .

fredjclaus

Great shots. It's hard to pick my favorite, but I'd say the outside to box shots are the best. I love the one of the two girls in front of the pond as well.

anonymouscuban

Zoom...

These effing great. Love that first shot. AND... I completely disagree with the suggestion that you should tone down the detail punch you added. I totally see why you did and it works quite well in the shots you used it on. The editing on #4 adds to the "tude" they're projecting in the shot. Really cool stuff.

BTW, I am so freaking jealous of the locations you shoot in. The other thing, I think this set has finally made me decide to go mobile. When I get back from Hawaii, first order of business will be do buy a Vagabond II power supply for my Alien Bees. Time to get outside and shoot!!!

anonymouscuban

Question on #1.... Care to share the tech details on it? Shutter, f-stop, etc.

Thanks,
Alex

Foques

Alex, he's got the exif in files

Zoom, what strobe did you use to light the up on the #1?

And I think i'd suggest to get rid of the bird. I'm anal, though. I love this set.. that's what I want my shots to look like!

and another question.. in #2.. what did you tell them to do?

Hackbone

Wow, some great ideas here and congrats on pulling it all off so well done. Love 4 but I personally hate tree shots but this one came off well.

zoomer

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment.

3 4 5 and the last one had light. The rest are natural. Where I did use light it was 1 sb800 through a softbox.

If was a partly cloudy day and I was constantly fighting the sun being out and then behind a cloud.

On 1 not sure what the settings were. I changed them a lot during the day and don't pay that much attention to them to begin with. My best guess is F4 at about 300 or so, iso probably 400.
Then I pumped the highlights and adjusted black point to compensate, mixed in good portion of clarity.

I like the bird....everybody is flying in that one .

reyvee61

Nice work on the these, the tree shot is my fave of the bunch....

digidrone

These all rock Zoomer!
I love the processing in #4, my favorite...

Bilsen

I like them all and I can get past all technical nits because they are having a blast and you caught it perfectly. I think if you are that successful at conveying the event, a guardrail is not that significant a flaw.

But I don't get out much.

jeremy_daniel

Great photos, #1 and #4 are my favs. I really like the way number 4 is both the poses and the detail in the photo.

Very well done on all them.

Jeremy B.

glennp

Some great shots! Didn't realize a 42" softbox with a SB800 would work under those conditions. Amazing what one learns from this site. Guess I'll pull out the X1600 and 36x48 softbox this weekend and give it some practice.

divamum

Hey, Zoomer - what are the deets on that SB? I can't find any that big for speedlights.... Would love to know more!

zoomer

This is what I use:
http://www.idahocamera.com/browse.cfm/rps-40-umbrella-soft-box/4,1114.html

adbsgicom

zoomer wrote: »

This is what I use:
http://www.idahocamera.com/browse.cfm/rps-40-umbrella-soft-box/4,1114.html

Cool. Nicely portable.

FlyNavy

Well done. I would love to be the dude in the last pic! :ivar

System

Nice shots. Lighting looks good, tack sharp, great composition...
That sure is a lucky GUY in the last shot with all those pretty young ladies!

kdog

Just awesome, Zoomer. Looks like you had a good connection with the girls.

zoomer

Thanks again, helps alot that my daughter is on the time and I have knows a few of those girls for years.

The guy in the pictures is an openly gay individual. He and the girls get along great together, really nice kid.