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Makingtrax

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Practising hard to balance flash and ambient. 580EX off camera in manual using ebay trigger with window light. 50mm 1.4 lens at f2. Still not nailed it yet but improving. Trouble is I'm running out of friends and family who'll put up with me practising on them!
The 40D is superb IMHO!
Steve

 
Thank you Juli. I notice you take a lot of time to comment on people's work. It'd be a poorer place without you. Much appreciated.
 
Very good work balancing flash and daylight. It's a beautiful pose of a a very pretty subject and exceptionally sharp. Do you find the 40D to be sharper than previous cameras for portraits?
Carole
--
Seeking the True, the Beautiful, the Good.
 
Carole, thanks for your kind comments. The 40D is a great camera. As far as focussing is concerned it works well. You can use live view and manual focus! This was shot on autofocus.
 
Very, very nice. Like the light. What were you trying to achieve w/ flash and window light? Flash was main light and window was fill?

Beautiful model and eyes, of course.

-- Rob
 
Rob, thank you for those words. I put the flash on quarter power (I think) and shutter on 1/200. It was a dark afternoon and I simply slowed down the shutter and chimped the back until the window light provided the amount of fill I liked.
 
I agree the light is spot on as is the colour, but looks to be a little oof, bottom of chin but could be the aperture for this as my 40d tends to look good right down to the nose then fades away below that, however I don't have that lens. Just a question, I have the 430 ex, what setting did you have the flash on, and did you adjust any settings in the flash menu of the camera? was waiting to have a play with this with the omnibounce diffuser. Any thoughts would be great.
--
Forums are a wealth of knowledge.
 
Hi and thanks very much for taking the time to comment. The flash was on manual - 1/4 power I think. There was no adjustment on camera - I had the ebay transmitter in the hotshoe and the receiver on the flash. I set the aperture where I wanted the depth of field and adjusted the flash distance to look good at 1/200th shutterspeed. I then slowed down the shutter and chimped the lcd to bring up the window fill.
Cheers
Steve
 
Alvin, thank you. I don't tend to consider the catchlights, at the moment I'm just practising to get the lighting how I want it with snapshot work. Maybe I should photoshop them out?
Thanks
Steve
 
Yehuda, that's praise indeed coming from you. After seeing your posts I'm very tempted to buy the flip-it and try a different route with a bracket. Having the flash off camera gets good results but is a bit time consuming in terms of setup. Your work is really excellent and probably a bit more impromptu.
 
Following the comment about catchlights I've cloned them out. Personally I think it makes the eyes look duller. Any comments would gratefully received.

 
Very nice shot a very pretty model, as well. A reviewer mentioned the catchlights in the eyes as a problem. Personally, I feel they add to the vibrance of the eyes -- helps bring them alive. Most photos without catchlights seem somewhat lifeless IMO.
Looking forward to seeing more work with your 40D.
 
I think the catchlight adds the 'sparkle' to the eyes which helps draw you in.

Great photo. I just ordered a 580exII and plan on keeping my 550xe to try and play with a 2 flash setup. I hope my efforts come close to what youa re getting...
--
Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan
See my profile for equipment list
 
Ken Roper said:
Very nice shot a very pretty model, as well. A reviewer mentioned the
catchlights in the eyes as a problem. Personally, I feel they add to
the vibrance of the eyes -- helps bring them alive. Most photos
without catchlights seem somewhat lifeless IMO.
Looking forward to seeing more work with your 40D.
Click to expand...
I agree... to me it takes the life out of the eyes

Look at someone in the eye without a camera , what do you see?
Yup reflections of life

--
Thats my 2 cents Canadian
Chris-Ottawa CAN
--
' Every picture tells a story don't it?' (Rod Stewart)
 
Michael, thanks for your kind comments, I appreciate it. I have a 580EX and a Sigma Super 500DG. I tried for some time to work with two flashes but found it too much like hard work setting them both up. Working with one and ambient fill, particularly with a window indoors can be just as flattering; and of course you can work with the sun outdoors. It's pretty rare to be in a room without a window. I also quite like exploring the feel of balancing flash and ambient light.
Thanks
Steve
 
Thanks Alvin, glad you like it. Next time, taking your point, I'm going to see if I can manage a shot by diffusing the flash more and bringing up the ambient to see if it's possible to not have catchlights by design. More food for thought/
Cheers
Steve
 
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