Critique First Time Speedlight Flash

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Name
Carol
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Hi I would like some cc please, I got a Neewer Speedlight Flash for christmas, never used one before but decided to try it out a couple of nights ago. The neewer flash is off camera and I used the camera flash as the fill.

Processed using Lr4.

Completely new to pre planned portraits much more at home in the countryside.....:D

Anyway the model is my teenage daughter so please no criticism of her.

Thanks in advance.

Carol

View attachment 29582 View attachment 29583
 
I prefer the red riding hood, nice tones.

The face PP might be too much? The skin is glowing and the eyes look supernatural - it brings out the intensity of the stare making her appear ominous.

If she was just about to bare her fangs, then it works for me :)
 
Carol, have you lightened her left eye? Whether you have or not doesn't matter much; this is a wonderful portrait. Engaging, mysterious, seemingly much more wrongly wise than her years. I love it. BTW, all the impact is in the colour version. As Dan says, it has lovely tones. The mono is half the picture.
 
I prefer the red riding hood, nice tones.

The face PP might be too much? The skin is glowing and the eyes look supernatural - it brings out the intensity of the stare making her appear ominous.

If she was just about to bare her fangs, then it works for me :)


Thanks Dan wasn't my intention to make her look scary or spooky, I will tone down the editing and repost.

Appreciate your cc thanks once again.
 
Very nice flash work, the red one is the strongest image but feel the over-processing of the eyes (for my tastes) distracts somewhat.
 
Carol, have you lightened her left eye? Whether you have or not doesn't matter much; this is a wonderful portrait. Engaging, mysterious, seemingly much more wrongly wise than her years. I love it. BTW, all the impact is in the colour version. As Dan says, it has lovely tones. The mono is half the picture.

I clarified both eyes Dean but the left one does look brighter probably as it's the one we are drawn to. You're right about her looking more worldly wise than her years, that's the one thing both my husband and I thought was a bit disconcerting.:)
 
These look great, and you would never guess this was your first attempt. The lighting looks spot on, it's nice and sharp and a nice full frame of your daughter (or nice crop). The eyes need toning down as others have said but not by much IMO. Colour version is the keeper!
 
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These look great, and you would never guess this was your first attempt. The lighting looks spot on, it's nice and sharp and a nice full frame of your daughter (or nice crop). The eyes need toning down as others have said but not by much IMO. Colour version is the keeper!

Thanks Ian it is a crop but only slightly took some of the top and a tad off the RH side, definitely my first attempt at lighting, youtube tutorials and magazines have been my best friend for the last week. :D

I showed the photograph to Erin's older sister and her partner and they both want one now, oh what have I started.......still it's practice and that's all good, not that I want to do portraits for a living! ;)
 
Very nice flash work, the red one is the strongest image but feel the over-processing of the eyes (for my tastes) distracts somewhat.

Thanks Sharkey I have made a subtle change to the colour version above not sure it is a enough though..........
 
I clarified both eyes Dean but the left one does look brighter probably as it's the one we are drawn to. You're right about her looking more worldly wise than her years, that's the one thing both my husband and I thought was a bit disconcerting.:)
I meant her left eye. It looks a touch to bright.
 
Thanks Sharkey I have made a subtle change to the colour version above not sure it is a enough though..........
Looks better but the whites still pop too much for me, as i say it's a personal preference so others may disagree. The iris colour is good but the strong whites just make the image a little overdone. But the objective which was the lighting is very good and you've got a strong image :)
 
For a first time flash photo this is ace. Another vote for the colour one.
 
I meant her left eye. It looks a touch to bright.

Looks better but the whites still pop too much for me, as i say it's a personal preference so others may disagree. The iris colour is good but the strong whites just make the image a little overdone. But the objective which was the lighting is very good and you've got a strong image :)

Hi guys I have reduced the whites of the eyes in the edit above, what do you say now?

Sorry just want to get the processing right if I can as portraits are totally new to me, this includes not only the lighting but the processing too.
 
Lovely! Simply lovely! The colour version does it for me... well done, Carol! :)
 
Carol, when it comes to eyes I have a simple rule - do nothing if possible.
 
With that as a first time image, you are gonna have a hard act to follow. Great shot.
 
I love it, but really love the mono conversion. Might not agree with myself when I'm off the iPad, but looks great and brings out the lighting without the colour to distract it. Great start for your strobe career
 
Thanks Tom, yes I am a bit worried perhaps not do it again, quit while I'm ahead!;)
 
Carol

If you are this good with your first attempt you really are going to be awesome!

Great to have a patient model too.

Can certainly see why the family are queueing up for copies.

If I can make one small suggestion, I would try a white/silver reflector to your daughter/model's left hand side to just give a slight lift but don't lose the subtle shadows altogether.

Looking forward to your next shots. (Oh and yes it is the colour one for me too, which is unusual, I often go for the mono).
 
Well it's all been said this is sooooo good. Colour is spot on for me.
Was the flash bounced ? Sorry if you said and I missed it.

Gaz
 
Well it's all been said this is sooooo good. Colour is spot on for me.
Was the flash bounced ? Sorry if you said and I missed it.

Gaz

Hi Gaz the Neewer Speedlight had a defuser on it just as small one which came with it and it was situated about 4 feet away on my daughter's left at face level, the on camera flash was bounced off my white cupboards in the kitchen. I took about 10 shots of her posing but this was my favourite, the big problem I had was getting the flash units to talk to each other which I think is a problem with the cheaper units. Will have to do a bit more homework regard this to see if there is a way of solving it without spending too much money.
 
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Thanks to everyone for all your great comments and positive feedback.
 
Hi Gaz the Neewer Speedlight had a defuser on it just as small one which came with it and it was situated about 4 feet away on my daughter's left at face level, the on camera flash was bounced off my white cupboards in the kitchen. I took about 10 shots of her posing but this was my favourite, the big problem I had was getting the flash units to talk to each other which I think is a problem with the cheaper units. Will have to do a bit more homework regard this to see if there is a way of solving it without spending too much money.
Cheers for the info. Am happy as I thought I could never get that quality of light from my bare speedlights.
Fab stuff___Course you can do it again :)

Gaz
 
Pocket Wizards....not cheap but in terms of synching flashguns......unbeatable. (I know some other brands incorporate radio triggers nowadays) but I want reliability and these have exceeded my expectations over the past few years.
 
Pocket Wizards....not cheap but in terms of synching flashguns......unbeatable. (I know some other brands incorporate radio triggers nowadays) but I want reliability and these have exceeded my expectations over the past few years.
Phottix Stratto ii's for me. Never skip a beat and much cheaper than PW's.

Of course, PW's are great too, just not worth the money anymore in my opinion.
 
I think that is brilliant for a first try, I'd be very happy if I could shoot like that. Well done :)
 
I love the second edited colour version. Stunning first attempt.
 
Once again thanks for all your great feedback, I am setting up another photo shoot with someone else but it's hopefully going to be an outdoor one.

Just a tad nervous about it, I am doing my homework though watching every tutorial and reading everything I can so I can hopefully make it worthwhile.
 
Once again thanks for all your great feedback, I am setting up another photo shoot with someone else but it's hopefully going to be an outdoor one.

Just a tad nervous about it, I am doing my homework though watching every tutorial and reading everything I can so I can hopefully make it worthwhile.
Looking forward to seeing the results from your next shoot! :)
 
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