Kay, this is a wonderful portrait! Good work.
I love those freckles!
Oh brother ... where to start!
When I first saw this my first thought was "I know this style" and then I realized it was MY style ... I'm a bit slow some days!
With regards to the triggering - you're going to find the 7D limited - simply because the on-camera flash shoots the light forward when communicating, and your not normally taking pictures of flashes firing; so "by default" the flash usually isn't going to be in the direction the flash is pointing at, which isn't a great start. I find it (and the ST-E2) a bit like those space-saver spare wheels for your car: great in an emergency, but pretty useless if you're trying to use it all the time. Bottom line is that NOTHING beats the Pocketwizard, especially with the new AC3 zone controller. I know they're not cheap, but it's really a case of do you buy them now, or later -- because eventually you'll be getting them
With regards to external battery packs - it all depends on how often you're using it. It's even easy enough to make your own (it's only a 6v gel cell battery) - failing that, consider a Canon CP-E4 if you're using 580EXs (original or II) - I don't think the 430 EX family has the external port, but I could be wrong. Failing that - get a brick of 40 AA batteries from Dick Smiths ($20 here in NZ) - that's a lot of shooting for $20. PS: You can also get cheaper CP-E4 look-alike units online.
With regards to the image ...
... well done
Seriously, I think this is the best work I've seen to date from any School of Portraiture participant -- and the first to actually "hang it all together". In the past we've had people get certain parts right - but leave others below standard ... and this is the first I've seen that hits all the buttons (composition - lighting - capture - processing & presentation). If a parent hired a professional photographer to photograph their child & put it on canvas - and this was the final result - they'd be pleased with the result. So with this result I hereby declare you "graduated" from the inaugural CiC School of Portraiture! The training wheels have now been removed - and now the learning really begins ... your final assignment is to now start producing this result consistantly; and remember too that you now no longer settle for merely photographing the scene you have - you now have the tools to grab the bull by the "horns" and manipulate the scene to give you the scene YOU want (that's where the learning and experience really start, and you also start to develop a style of your own). Unfortunately it's also where "with great power comes great responsibility" ... but nobody will be killed or injured when you muck things up, so just get out there and do it!
PS: Almost forgot to mention ... one final tip from the teacher ... tight framing like this pushes the DoF limits more than we'd like - so when you push in like this - generally - on a crop-factor camera like the 7D you probably won't want to be on anything less than F5.6 for safety ... I can see here that the eyes are sharp, but the chin is just starting to go - so I'd guessing you were probably at F4 or slightly wider. I shoot @ F11 in the studio and even then I get bitten by DoF issues when doing head shots.
Last edited by Colin Southern; 25th March 2011 at 04:53 AM.
Yet one more foray into people...a mother (Mandy1973) and her very squirmy daughter, Mallory (30 months). I was trying out a new lens and couldn't get the focus lock to work well but was still able to get some 'decent" (IMO) shots, this one of the better.
All natural light, late afternoon, shade. F5.6 @ 1/400 ISO 200 Nikon D5000. It's okay, but could use some good PP work or a whole new reshoot..so, some of you resident portrait peeps out there, show me your stuff!
Thankyou Brian, Chris & Colin for your kind comments....
Chris - having only just 'qualified' - I will leave critique of your image to the experts
And Colin...I will research the pocket wizards, we knew I was going to.....
question 1) - I know you need a transmitter and receiver type setup - but if you were to use 2 flashes - do you then need 3 wizards.....off I go to Mr Wizard's google site
p.s when I saw your "oh brother" I thought oh no!....
but 'phew' it turned out ok
next assignment is a Mum with 4 daughters....
I am spending my time now, with these volunteer subjects to - as you suggest 'make sure I can repeat it' so there is still a long way to go - but I have to say - it is great fun
now back to that Birthday wizard shopping research
Last edited by wilgk; 26th March 2011 at 02:02 AM.
This is a beautiful picture, Chris! Both in terms of composition and technique, I think you have done a great job. Your WB seems to be off a bit, at least on my monitor (I am looking at it on my work laptop, not calibrated).
The only thing that bothers me is the dark area in the mid upper section. I wish you had more detail on that area but it is still a great shot!
Hi Chris,
I really like the composition of this shot! I think a little more light on mandy's face would help for sure. Per Colin's portraiture class, I am now the proud owner of a collapsable reflector. I wouldn't think of taking an outdoor portrait without it - not a planned one anyway. I'm sure Mandy loves this photo and will for many many years! This makes it a special shot indeed.
This was much more a spur of the moment, "Mallory has her favorite dress on - let's shoot some pics of us together," shot than formally planned. Mandy really wanted the shot to be about her daughter and less about her so I "posed" (as much as you can pose a worm on hot concrete) them in a manner where the best light was on Mallory. I think, l either I should have had more light on Mandy or less on her, but as it is, it makes the viewer want one or the other, but not what I have.
Shooting this kind of portraiture is a new ball game for me. Prior experience involved a set of strobes, in a typical 4 light setup (main, fill, back and hair lights), a "set" background and generally, drugged kids (n-no, I didn't say that, but I suspected it on more than one occasion). Catching the little buggers out in the open, and getting results like Kay did in the shot preceding this one, that's a little more down the road for me...but I'll get there.
Thanks so much for the encouragement and positive comments/critiques...I need it.
Thanks Antonio
This one Steve is really great
He just looks good, relaxed, at ease, on his own, confident, looking at the future... very well done. Nice moment
I have nothing to say about this photo contrarily to usual
Thank you Steve for posting here once more
Have a nice working week
Last edited by Antonio Correia; 4th April 2011 at 09:00 PM.
Thank you Antonio for your lovely comments.
Have a nice week too.
Steve
Completely agree with Antonio! Absolutely beautiful, Steve.
Not sure if there was any clouds in the sky that day, but that is something the picture is missing (the sky looks blown out although it might have been just overcast). Would be great with a real blue sky and some white clouds. Anyway, great job!
Cheers!
Nice shot Ali, I love the expression on his face like he is thinking, " how am I going to tackle this thing".
Thanks for you comments on mine too. The sky was overcast and just a dirty white colour so choice to get it right in camera was limited. I used a 1/2 CTO lee filter on the fill flash which then brought out the blue in the sky when I corrected the WB in PP.
I like the suggestion for the sky, I will try that when I get a few minutes.
Steve