Fun in the strobist snow

DSC_3103
Originally uploaded by nexcar

Yep, this picture of me and my son isn't strobist inspired. But it should be. The sky is overexposed, but at least me the little guy look perfectly exposed (lighting-wise and temperature-wise [keep it PG people!])
Anyways this set has me wondering, how do I compensate for the background to control more of the light coming from it and then match and manipulate my flash and camera to produce a better shot? Kinda rhetorical question right now because I'm still in the "gear" phase of shooting instead of the shooting phase of photog.

Early in the day with Drew and Lola, it was good. But I think the shadows kinda distracted from the snowscape which is what I was trying to get.


Then just after sunset, I tried to make use of the "golden hour", but it look way later than it really was. The picture of Joshua and I was taken much later in the day than the next pix.

First portrait shots outside my home, I have much to learn

DSC_2780
Originally uploaded by nexcar

I was hosting an Open House in Vista, California with my real estate agent partner Alex Flores. During our down time I practiced some strobist portraits because he needed some smiling head shots of himself for marketing. The results were par at best, but personally, I wouldn't pay for those pictures that I have uploaded to FLICKR.
These shots were at 45deg to subject, either camera left/right. I used a Home Depot clamp and a cheapy flash to create a white backdrop and hopefully create some hair light/halo. You gotta see how I set this up, but I forgot to take a pix.

I did some interior shots to brighten up the the room and create more space for an already small room. You can see my attempts. My portraits are definitely in the learning phase and I need to learn how to flatter the subject better.

Jeff, don't shoot square. Angles are your friends...

My 1st attempt at posing my subject, aka real estate partner for the 97% turn. If you don't know, you turn the subject 3-degrees till 1 ear disappears.


What a sec...put on my blazer.
Better!

15 minutes, new strobist gear, and my fam

DSC_2306
Originally uploaded by nexcar

So I got my new strobist gear thrown in the van, clicked my 2 boys in their car seats, and rushed my numb face wife to the park. What could possibly happen? How about some pretty good experimental strobist shots? I like. Yes they are not perfect, but they are "real". Hopefully I can be consistent with my setup.

got my umbrella?

Yes! Got my umbrella and now I feel 90% complete. Yes my borrowed nikon sb-600 is going back, but the concept is still the same. See the picture and examples here on flickr:

Strobist-journal

definitely the shoot through is going to be the best option for me. the bounce light from the umbrella is too hard. Yes I know...it seems counterintuitive. But the shoot-though of the light is very soft and extra powerful. I had to go to 1/16 power going THRU the umbrella as opposed to 1/4 power to bounce it.
Keep on experimenting. At least my shots are not too powerful because of hard light or gone are the days of too dark even with a flash.

20100108 Just got my wireless trigger

Just got my 16 channel wireless trigger from ebay. All the way from Hong Kong. Luckily I borrowed a Nikon SB-600 to play with. I gotta say that the angels will not sing when you open the box and attach your external flash...

With the trigger mounted on my Nikon D40, sb-600 charged and wirelessly attached to the receiver I was ready to finally become a strobist. NOT!
Aperture mode didn't work for some reason and of course Shutter mode is useless, so the Manual mode I go.
Manual Mode right? 1st gotta worry about shutter speed. The D40 goes all the way to 500th. Aperture f/11, kinda middle of the road. Click!
Black screen. Change the settings and dark screen with figures. Pretty much after about 40 test shots, I like about 5 because the flash cannot be directly facing my subject, aka kids. I really get good shots by aiming the flash 90 degrees at the ceiling. But wait, I can still get that look from my tiny sb-400 without any triggers.
Obviously I have much to learn and lots of shots to experiment with.
And this is all regardless of my permanent flash the YN-460.

From etc

Next entry will hopefully come with some improvement and the YN-460 flash and umbrella.