Candid portraits

javierplumey

On Christmas Day we spent some time outdoors, mostly walking around to let the kids burn off energy and I decided to take some portraits of the family. These were done using my Nikon D-40 and an SB-400 flash. The day was very cloudy. I would appreciate your thoughts.



My son the chocolate monster.



At a church near our house.



My dad at the church. He's been fighting cancer and we have so few pics of him that I had to take the opportunity to take this one.



My brother and his kids. Getting kids to look your way when you don't have a free hand is tough!



My dad and my neice.



My kid sitting on the curb watching his remote control car being used by someone else.



My wife and son. Good except his face is squished. I wish I would have noticed it earlier.



My sister-in-law.

Scott_Quier

This is a collection of winners! Well done.

jeffreaux2

Scott_Quier wrote:

This is a collection of winners! Well done.

Very nice!!!

javierplumey

Thanks for the kind words. The problem I have right now with portraits is my flash. The SB-400 is a wonderful , day-to-day flash but it cannot bounce in vertical mode. I have been wracking my brain trying to find something (or make it) that will bounce the flash up when I am taking vertical shots. There have been lots of threads on bounce cards and a discussion here is off topic, but that's my current challenge. Anyway, thanks for feedback, feel free to add C&C if you see anything.

jeffreaux2

javierplumey wrote:

Thanks for the kind words. The problem I have right now with portraits is my flash. The SB-400 is a wonderful , day-to-day flash but it cannot bounce in vertical mode. I have been wracking my brain trying to find something (or make it) that will bounce the flash up when I am taking vertical shots. There have been lots of threads on bounce cards and a discussion here is off topic, but that's my current challenge. Anyway, thanks for feedback, feel free to add C&C if you see anything.

That is easy. All you need there is a flash bracket that will either rotate the flash or camera. There are varying opinions on which is best, but they come in pretty much all price ranges and start out at around $50( for a flip type). The bonus is by getting the flash farther from the lens chances of red eye are greatly diminished.

Cuties02q

Very nice shots...that first one is great

joshhuntnm

I especially like the second one. Did you have to lay on the ground to get it?

Deanna Alko

2,3,5 are my favorites. I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, he appears in good spirits.

6, I think would like a little more room in the direction he's looking.

Thanks for sharing.

Take care,
- Deanna