First go at off camera lighting.

[jeffrobjent]

Hey folks, my Vivitar 285 turned up this morning, chunky bit of kit indeed

I wanted to have a go straight away so took a few pictures of my sister. It feels like I'm learning photography all over again, very fun indeed.

Anyway, here they are:


1

2

3

4

5

6 - messed the processing up on this one?

feedback greatly appreciated.

 

[OutLore]

I'm no expert (at anything) but I would try bouncing the flash, or using a diffuser to lessen the harsh shadows on the indoor shots....

(And getting rid of the boxes under the stairs)

Useful info here on off camera lighting. (Mods please remove if link is not allowed)

 

[mikeyw]

Shadows are quite harsh - maybe work better in B&W

 

[33L]

love the trousers in the first! seriously though get on ebay and get some shoot through umbrellas to reduce the harsh shadows

 

[Sebastian]

or small softbox

 

[keirik]

actually I like the harsh shadows - particularly in #2 & #4. Not everything has to be done to the 'formula' to work

 

[TwentySixDays]

I really like No2 and No6
? No6 - what do you mean when you say you messed it up?

 

[jeffrobjent]

Thanks folks. I'm going to look into umbrella's and softboxes, no doubt I'll end up coming up with a homemade contraption as I'm like that

Keirik, I quite like it too, especially on 4 with the banister etc.

As for 6, I think her face / body look really unnatural? Though I am working off an old crap laptop so maybe it's just me.

 

[Rodintee]

Must say I quite like the harsh shadowing too, particularly 2 & 4.

How are you triggering the off camera flash. I've got an old cobra 250 I'd like to get a trigger for to have a play with.

Russ

 

[Lensflare]

All you need to do to reduce the harsh shadows is move the subject off the background. Job done.

When the flash to subject distance is greater than the subject to background distance you will get hard shadows.

 

[ChrisMClark]

The 285 is indeed a meaty piece of kit, but plenty of power! Picked one up for £12 in a collectibles shop of all places, then saw one go for £45 on ebay

Being on older flash means aside from trying to source the original clip in diffuser it'd be hard finding a Stofen type product, so maybe look at getting an umbrella and clamp.