Saturday, January 14, 2012

Flash Practice {Jamie Solorio Portrait Photography of Redding, CA}











Thank you so much Mirandi...my twin for your help tonight!  Also, a special thanks to my real sister, Erin for helping me too!  Oh...I can't forget Ryan too...thanks for that delicious round of Bloody Mary's and our fries! 

Some specifics about this shoot.  I used TTL flash in a soft box, some bare speed light, and max sync speed of 1/250th.  Metered for the ambient light in all cases and adjusted light on Mirandi from the flash!  I also worked on short lighting tonight! :)

To see more of my work...well, natural light photography please visit http://www.jamiesoloriophotography.com/.  I am still trying to wrap my lil brain around this off camera flash bit! :)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Flash Practice with strong backlight and indoor TTL Flash



Okay, today I was trying to replicate a picture I saw in a magazine.  The picture had really strong back light and then a gradient of light across the models face with the darkest part being closest to the highlight hair.  This is my attempt with trying to recreate this type of look. 

To begin I metered with spot metering on the brightest part of her hair, which is why when I took the picture that she is totally underexposed.  So, you can see how much TTL flash was used in the 2nd picture to illuminate her face.  I positioned my flash to my right and had it bounce off a wall near me at a 45ish degree angle.  I had to play with the flash compensation a bit to get the right amount of light on her face too.  I am having some pretty big issues with White Balance with flash, so I need to look into that too! :)

Just playing around on this next image! :)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Bouncing Flash Random Notes

To begin, notice how the light is already hitting the subject.  Decide how I want to change the light in order to make a better looking image.  Bounce light off the walls near me either to the right or left usually angled around 30 or 45 degrees.  Use exposure compensation in TTL mode to add or subtract light.  Meter off the ambient light, if the ambient light is the same as light on subject...meter 1.5 to 2 stops less.  If the ambient light is brighter than the subject, meter of the brighter ambient light behind the subject.  In this scenario I want to have less light in the background I can either change my aperture or my ISO to get desired effect.  This is because I am working in TTL mode on my flash, if I had been working in Manual flash I would drag my shutter speed.  In low light situations have the shutter speed be at least 1/10 to 1/20th of a second to make sure I get a sharp image.

So, if I have almost a correct exposure, but the contrast between the highlights and shadows is to much, then I can use my flash as Fill-Flash to lift that contrast.  I would then bounce light behind me just to lift a tad.  I think!

Here is a cute baby, since this stuff is pretty boring!  Plus posts are always better with images! 

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

{365} Flash Practice with a Head!

Okay, here is day 3 of the 365 project...starting with Flash Photography.  I did take several pictures last night, but didn't put the effort into getting them off my card to the net.  Here is todays test!

I bought a head for $4.00 at the local beauty store and thought I would start practicing on her instead of my hubby.  He was getting a little tired of being flashed all the time.  Anyhow, this will work just fine and when I feel closer to getting a technique down I will use a better looking subject! lol!

This was taken around 4pm in my front living room.  The sky was mostly blue with some clouds.  ISO 400 F/1.8 Spot Metering 1/200th for the flash shots and 1/160th for the no flash shot.  On the flash shots I bounced the flash to my left at a 45 degree angle with a black foamy thing attached.  While was practicing I metered off the brightest part of the head, since it was blowing out in the histogram.  I also tried moving the flash more behind me and at different angles...this was the one I liked the best.

Yes, pretty boring stuff...but...this is how I learn!  Practicing and then writing about it here in my little photography diary!  More interesting pictures to soon come!  I still have a newborn session to edit and a new little guy to take pictures of this Friday...as long as I am no longer sick!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

{365} Day One

Flash practice is still in full swing!  So, even though Jesse and I are tired, hung over, and freezing...since I procrastinated til 10pm to do my picture today...we still got a shot in!  I would like to figure out how to get this type of look quickly and I hope to figure it out soon!  Any hoo...this was todays shot...barely! lol!