First Outdoor Portraits with Off Camera Flash

sduk

sduk

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Sammy
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I mainly shoot real estate photography but have an urge to give portrait work a try.

Armed with my 2 x AD200 flashes and the AD-B2 flash head I did a couple of portraits today for a friend who needed a new headshot for his website.

Also grabbed a shot with his wee boy...


Stable-3 by Sammy Donaldson, on Flickr

Stable-4 by Sammy Donaldson, on Flickr

Stable-5 by Sammy Donaldson, on Flickr


These were ISO100, 200mm, f4, 1/400.

I think in hindsight maybe I had too much flash but overall pretty happy.

Would love any feedback.

thanks

Sammy
 
I can't see what OCF is adding to this? it looks like a fairly bright day?

For me - it's the squint that spoils the images. I can barely see his eyes. I do think the shine is a bit harsh too.

On the plus side, the first two are nice and well composed. I like the angle to the body and the smile on the 2nd feels nice & natural to me. The wall leading off is nice and the OOF background works well. Colours are really nice and muted with an overall warm glow that suits them.

The last is a nice family snap. I think the lad could do with being in front of dad(?) rather than hidden away behind him - maybe sat on the wall so you could do a landscape like the previous two?. The hand in pocket looks awkward and might be better served round the (newly positioned) boy.
As with all my feedback - this is purely my opinion - please take what you like & leave the rest.
 
I personally prefer outdoor shots with OCF when the flash is used to overpower the ambient light, so for me they would have been a bit more interesting if you'd underexposed the background a bit more. Maybe it was too bright for that though?

I suppose the main question is: did your friend like them? They're for his website after all :)
 
The question here isn’t whether the balance of flash is ‘right’ but that the OP has shot a portrait with a subject facing bright sun. This can sometimes work, butis best avoided for exactly the reason illustrated here.

I like to mix flash with sunlight, but generally have the sun act as backlight or rimlight.
 
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