Charlie

[Warby]

Hi people. Haven't posted for a while, but thought I would put these up here in the hope of a bit of help/guidance.

I bought a second 550EX unit and an ST-E2 IR trigger a while ago, but this was the first time that I had used them all together. I don't have any backgrounds, so I used an interior wall as a backdrop - could have improved on the colour, but it was all that was available at the time. I'm not sure that the lights were positioned correctly or that the power ratios were appropriate, but just played around until I was happy with the results. Is there anything that I am obviously doing wrong or could do to improve the results?

The subject is my 6 year old son Charlie and these were taken for the sole purpose of gaining experience with the lighting set up.

1.
http://www.8frerichs.freeserve.co.uk/DPP_0005.jpg

2.
http://www.8frerichs.freeserve.co.uk/DPP_0009.jpg

Any comments, feedback or advice gratefully received.

Paul

[puddinz]

I know next to nthing about lighting but I love the expressions on his face - really bought a smile to mine he looks like quite a character.

[Miss Katie]

Hi there! I think that my only criticism would be the SLIGHT yellow cast on your son's skin that could be improved with a bit of tweaking of the colour balance... however, I am only an amatuer so I could be wrong...

Personally I like the lighting and I agree with Puddinz in that the expressions are fantastic! What a cute little boy and a marvellous practice subject!.. I hope that you shouted him an icecream or a treat as payment.:D

Great shots Warby! I think that you should be proud of yourself!

[fenix_starr]

Love these! Looks like a very willing subject! I love the catchlights in his eyes.. very pretty.

[pault107]

Great shots!

I agree with Miss Katie though that there is a slight cast - easily fixed in PS though.

[Warby]

Thank you all for your comments.

Charlie's expressions certainly make taking his photograph fun. I can assure you that he was well rewarded for his efforts, although he seems to enjoy the process, particularly looking at the images of himself on the PC.

Katie & Paul, you're right about the yellow cast on the skin tones. I have tried adjusting them in PS and the results were more pleasing. Maybe I should use a custom WB next time instead of relying on AWB.

Paul

[Titus213]

Fun photos. The expressions are priceless. Using a custom WB could help. Shooting raw and correcting is also quite easy.

[Warby]

Thanks Titus. I did shoot these in RAW, but I don't seem to have much of an eye for spotting slight colour casts on skin tones. My results always seem to be a little warmer than reality. This is why I though AWB might at least give me a better starting point.

Is this problem unique to me or do others suffer from a distorted view of true colours too?

Paul