Growing Up...

[jiro]

Another test shot of Kate using my home made DIY 12-inch beauty dish. Thank you very much for viewing.



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Nikon D70, 70mm, ISO 200, f/4.5 at 1/80 second.

[jiro]

Rendered in b&w:



Thank you very much for viewing.

[NoCard]

Hi Jiro,
That DIY beauty dish is very effective, great results.
Try as I might, I just cannot chose between the colour and BW, both are equally good!

[jiro]

Thank you very much, Rob.

[Katy Noelle]

Jiro, this is wonderful! The light on her is very lovely and, beyond that, she has such a beautiful and true, soft smile! I love taking photos of my boys. I wonder if there's something about the photographer being a parent that helps them to be so natural and beautiful. or, maybe, they're just not self conscious, yet. hmmm.

The only thought that I have - and it's only for your consideration - is that the background looks kind of, somewhat, to me, like it's not real. What I mean is, you know how school photographers will sometimes shoot against a backdrop that is a scene? Somehow, that's what I'm seeing a little. Maybe, it's the light isn't quite as bright outside as what is on her face (which, admittedly, might happen in an all natural light situation) or, maybe, but I can't tell...is your light source coming from another direction as the natural light (which there isn't much of in the background). You understand, I'm just rummaging around for a way to describe what I'm seeing.

[jiro]

Thanks, Katy. From my experience with this experiment it's actually a little bit harder to shoot with your kids because they are either in the mood or not. You'd be lucky if they are! With these shots, I gave them some funny one-liner jokes to get that smile out.

As for the background it's all real. The sun is almost gone on the horizon at camera left. I was hoping to get some backlight from it but it's already late. The good thing about flash photography is that it's really easy to control how much of the ambient light you want to show by simply adjusting your shutter speed. On the last shot, I wanted to have some of that low light so I increased my shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/80 second. my 18-70mm lens can produce some good bokehs provided the background is really far from the subject. The chain link fence and the trees are about 7 - 8 yards away from her hence the blurred effect. I learned a lot from this experiment. You should try it, too.

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, Katy. From my experience with this experiment it's actually a little bit harder to shoot with your kids because they are either in the mood or not. You'd be lucky if they are! With these shots, I gave them some funny one-liner jokes to get that smile out.

As for the background it's all real. The sun is almost gone on the horizon at camera left. I was hoping to get some backlight from it but it's already late. The good thing about flash photography is that it's really easy to control how much of the ambient light you want to show by simply adjusting your shutter speed. On the last shot, I wanted to have some of that low light so I increased my shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/80 second. my 18-70mm lens can produce some good bokehs provided the background is really far from the subject. The chain link fence and the trees are about 7 - 8 yards away from her hence the blurred effect. I learned a lot from this experiment. You should try it, too.

Thanks, Willie! I know that I'm getting there...experiments with lighting (quite possibly homemade.) I have so many ideas, at the moment, it's crazy!