some input

my second time ever using a white back drop and trying to incorprate avaiable light and an SB-800 flash...here's some of the final results...any input is welcome...

the light sources were a sliding glass door from the left and flash being bounced off a fairly low(white and smooth finished) basement ceiling.

Nicely done Nat. It is really hard to do High Key like this and not lose the white they are wearing to the white of the background. I might have tried maybe .5 underexposure on the strobe just for grins. How much processing, what lens and how was the exposure determined?

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Originally Posted by MJS

Nicely done Nat. It is really hard to do High Key like this and not lose the white they are wearing to the white of the background. I might have tried maybe .5 underexposure on the strobe just for grins. How much processing, what lens and how was the exposure determined?

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LOL exposure was determined by setting it to Auto and then "adjusting till I got the desired effect..." I used my only lense*18mm-50mm) at a range between 35mm-50mm
the flash was set at -.4.0 (?) ISO 200, 1/60th-1/100th, between f/4 and 8

the originals were a bit on the muddy side...what I see in the viewfinder was so much darker than what I ended up with....my backdrop was wrinkly...so as far as post processing...i took maybe 1-2 minutes on each...to clone and dodge the wrinkles away. adjusted the levels and unsharp masked it and added a subtle touch of the diffused glow
filter and sized to 8x10

I'm weenie when it comes to the numbers and logistics...I really need to learn better photo skills/flash skills and less PS. each experience brings me closer. I find the greatest challenge in not turning it into a piece of fine art and leaving it well enough alone and letting it remain a photograph.

I guess it's the look I go for but I'd much rather have the skill to gauge the settings more accurately...

blah blah---sorry thanks for looking

I think they look nice, although the tones vary. Some of them look cooler than others. Are you trying for white-white or just a light backdrop? I am assuming that is fabric? You could try putting the backdrop in front of the doors, and then light the kids with your flash. That might help with some of the wrinkles as well.

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Originally Posted by adina

I think they look nice, although the tones vary. Some of them look cooler than others. Are you trying for white-white or just a light backdrop? I am assuming that is fabric? You could try putting the backdrop in front of the doors, and then light the kids with your flash. That might help with some of the wrinkles as well.

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ooh good idea....that might help it look less muddy.thanks...light sensai ;)

Nat, these are pretty good. Mixing available and flash light in a subtle, delicate balance can be extremely tough...

Unfortunately, in a couple of the shots (the first and third most notably, a bit in the fourth) you have what's called a light overlap, where neither the flash nor the daylight is dominant, and, depending on your shutter speed, you tend to get a slight unsharpness or ghosting from subject or camera movement.

The good news it usually only takes a tweak of the exposure or flash setting to make things right, but that takes experimentation. Luckily, digital shooting makes evaluating these kinds of shots easier...

IMO, the best way to do these kinds of shots is to create seperate pics of the two light elements. IOW, figure out your exposure for the daylight and take a shot of that (without the flash). Then underexpose (or block) the available light, but make the flash the proper exposure, and take a shot of that.

When you compare the two images, it will be pretty easy to spot where the lighting will overlap. Then you can adjust and modify accordingly, sometimes blocking off ambient light, or perhaps repositioning the flash or dialing it down a tad.

I'm guessing you didn't do that, but if you did, it would be fun to see, and would probably help others interested in the same setup.

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Originally Posted by natatbeach

ooh good idea....that might help it look less muddy.thanks...light sensai ;)

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light sensai....that's laughable! :)

I was just about ready to run my flash over with the car, but I found that sphere-thingy, and I'm feeling a little better about it. Just have to work on ps-ing my catchlights.

so are you saying find a middle ground between the two exposures to get the light more even....? Thanks for looking and siggesting as soon as I have a some time again I will try it....no sure when that wil be but will keep that in mind since taht will predominantly be the least expensive route right now...thanks ;)

diffusers are great...I'm so aggravated cuz I lost mine and really don't have $20 to spare---time to get the tissue/rubberbands out... :D

When we are in a pinch and need diffusion quickly, there is nothing quite like wax paper from the kitchen. How about an old piece of poster board from a project, etc. The opaque inner liner from the shower curtain would also do.

I've heard a baby's sock works well.

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Originally Posted by natatbeach

my second time ever using a white back drop and trying to incorprate avaiable light and an SB-800 flash...here's some of the final results...any input is welcome...

the light sources were a sliding glass door from the left and flash being bounced off a fairly low(white and smooth finished) basement ceiling.

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Hi Natalie,

What I would do for this type of shot would be the following. If you want high key then you want to make sure the light that is hitting the background does not to spill onto the subject. I spent a lot of time trying to find out why my high key portraits were blowing out at the fringes.

My solution was to buy foam core from the local Home Depot and paint one side black and make two separate foam core sections. Place the foam core on each side of the subject and place the lights behind it illuminating the background. Then you can add a little light to fill in the subject if you want, by using a reflector or a light flash. This will create that super white background and a softly lit subject.

Make sure that the light ratio form the background isn't more than two stops over the subject. You may get flare if the ratios are too strong.

Loren