first OCF shoot!

[Builttuff]

Ok So Im six weeks deep into photography and this is my first OCF shoot! It was very windy here in southern IN today so I had to pick a place that was woodsy to help block the wind. This is what I came up with. The sun was in and out of the clouds the whole time. Hope you enjoy and tell me what I could have done different. Oh and these are straight out of the camera!

[Robert_Lay]

The next to the last shot is very good.
The last shot has direct sunlight hitting the lens which causes forward scatter and glare, thus reducing the contrast and veiling the shadows.

The first 4 shots all have the same problem. The sun is too high in the sky and the kids are all looking in the direction of the sun, which is high and directly behind the photographer. You could create better 3-dimensionality by looking for a lower sun and getting the light to cast the shadows more diagonally across the face.

The first and fourth shots have the lighting close to what I'm talking about. As you can see in #4 her nose casts a shadow diagonally down to the left corner of her mouth. That is getting close to the ideal Rembrandt lighting.

Once you have the shadows where you want them, you can soften them as much as you like with fill flash, if you want.

Wondering what part of So. IN you are in - I was raised in Columbus, IN.

[Builttuff]

The next to the last shot is very good.
The last shot has direct sunlight hitting the lens which causes forward scatter and glare, thus reducing the contrast and veiling the shadows.

The first 4 shots all have the same problem. The sun is too high in the sky and the kids are all looking in the direction of the sun, which is high and directly behind the photographer. You could create better 3-dimensionality by looking for a lower sun and getting the light to cast the shadows more diagonally across the face.

The first and fourth shots have the lighting close to what I'm talking about. As you can see in #4 her nose casts a shadow diagonally down to the left corner of her mouth. That is getting close to the ideal Rembrandt lighting.

Once you have the shadows where you want them, you can soften them as much as you like with fill flash, if you want.

Wondering what part of So. IN you are in - I was raised in Columbus, IN.

Hey thanks for your input! Im in Seymour. Born and raised! Its a small world isnt it? The Mom liked the one with the glare in the lens from the sun, So I thought id post it to get some feedback. The one of my son by the barn is in the shade and the ones of the girls sitting on the bench are sun to their back. I guess I had my flash to close or power to high. The ones on the fence are sun to her 11 oclock and flash at her 3 oclock. It was my first time using OCF and I was a little overwelmed with the sun popping in and out. This makes me appreciate all you great photographers even more. Im doing everything in manual and no PP. I figure once I get the camera and flash working in my direction then Ill work on PP. Oh these were 630ish

[Robert_Lay]

Hey thanks for your input! Im in Seymour. Born and raised! Its a small world isnt it? The Mom liked the one with the glare in the lens from the sun, So I thought id post it to get some feedback. The one of my son by the barn is in the shade and the ones of the girls sitting on the bench are sun to their back. I guess I had my flash to close or power to high. The ones on the fence are sun to her 11 oclock and flash at her 3 oclock. It was my first time using OCF and I was a little overwelmed with the sun popping in and out. This makes me appreciate all you great photographers even more. Im doing everything in manual and no PP. I figure once I get the camera and flash working in my direction then Ill work on PP. Oh these were 630ish
I think you have a good strategy.
I'm very surprised that the shots were as late as 6:30 - I guess my ability to read shadows needs a tune-up:D

I have a sister who lives just east of Reddington, name of Matlock-Kuehn. I think she works at some 2nd hand store in Seymour. Not too familiar with Seymour, myself, since I left the area in 1949 to attend Purdue:D

[Builttuff]

I think you have a good strategy.
I'm very surprised that the shots were as late as 6:30 - I guess my ability to read shadows needs a tune-up:D

I have a sister who lives just east of Reddington, name of Matlock-Kuehn. I think she works at some 2nd hand store in Seymour. Not too familiar with Seymour, myself, since I left the area in 1949 to attend Purdue:D


Wow I work in Reddington,Texas Eastern, and a few guys I work with live in Reddington!

We started around 515 and we were done around 630 the last shots were the lens glare and the barn. I wanted to get a couple sunset shots but the wind was crazy and the girls were tired and having a hard time staying focused so we called it a day.

[DAMphyne]

Bob,
You went to Purdue?
That explains a lot.;)

[joedlh]

Ok So Im six weeks deep into photography and this is my first OCF shoot!


I'm 30-odd years into photography and I don't know what an "OCF" shoot is, although I admit that there's a good likelihood that I've been doing it all along without the benefit of knowing the acronym. I suspect that the part of my brain that once processed these cursed abominations of verbal discourse was burned out years ago during a stint with a DOD contractor.:confused:

[Builttuff]

I'm 30-odd years into photography and I don't know what an "OCF" shoot is, although I admit that there's a good likelihood that I've been doing it all along without the benefit of knowing the acronym. I suspect that the part of my brain that once processed these cursed abominations of verbal discourse was burned out years ago during a stint with a DOD contractor.:confused:

Off Camera Flash.

[DAMphyne]

Found it, I did a search and found out what OCF stands for.
Might be my first successful search.
Durn, if I had waited a minute, I wouldn't have had to go through all that.

[buurin]

Call me crazy, but did your flash even fire in #3 & #5? I see no catchlights and they just look flat.

Can you explain your setup?

You mentioned having the flashes at full power -- perhaps you did not give them time to recyle? Poor quality triggers?

Lightingwise I think 4 is easily the best.

I like the last shot with the flare, however its a little bit too much flare. Good idea though.

[howaboutnow]

LOL @ DAMphyne, I was wondering the same thing.

I like these, they are really cute! First one is adorable, I think with a bit of PP this one could be great!

[Builttuff]

Call me crazy, but did your flash even fire in #3 & #5? I see no catchlights and they just look flat.

Can you explain your setup?

You mentioned having the flashes at full power -- perhaps you did not give them time to recyle? Poor quality triggers?

Lightingwise I think 4 is easily the best.

I like the last shot with the flare, however its a little bit too much flare. Good idea though.

Yes Im sure they flashed. There are a few where the Cactus v4 triggers didnt work but a few out of a couple hundred photos isnt bad for $40 triggers now is it? The ones that didnt flash were pretty dark so I deleated them.

My setup is a 580 EXII on a stand and a cheep umbrella. I didnt say I had my flash at full power I said power too high or too close.

I also used a rosco 3408 1/2 sun gel. Here is one of the mom blocking the flash so you get idea of the surrounding light. The sun did pop out from time to time but it was mostly cloudy and we were in a pretty shaded area

http://i34.tinypic.com/20prh9y.jpg

[Robert_Lay]

I hope that everyone perusing this thread will notice the lighting in this shot immediately above.

Yes, the picture is rendered rather dark, but ignore that for a moment and look at the shadows on the girl's face. That is a perfect example of Rembrandt lighting. Notice that the shadows run diagonal across her face. The effect of this kind of lighting is to accentuate the facial contours, thus leading to the appearance of a real, 3-dimensional subject instead of a 2-dimensional picture.

Increased brightness and lowered contrast, using CS4 Brightness/Shadows tool.

See this reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_lighting

[Builttuff]

Off topic....Bob there is a Matlock Plumbing in reddington. Any relation?

Thanks to all for taking time to reply. I have so much to learn and any critiquing I get helps.

[Robert_Lay]

Off topic....Bob there is a Matlock Plumbing in reddington. Any relation?

Thanks to all for taking time to reply. I have so much to learn and any critiquing I get helps.
Sure enough! That's my nephew.

[johnaengus]

I think the lighting is great, but the colors are a little cold for my taste. I have attached some sample processing.

[johnaengus]

A couple more

[johnaengus]

Last ones.

[buurin]

I like the processing on #1 & #4.

[phamster]

Ok.. built tuff.

here is what i see..

the flash isn't showing up strongly.. but you don't want to over power it either.

what i am guessing is your umbrella was not close enough..

how far away was the brella? just out side of the frame of the camera? or was it about 8-9 feet away..?

i have a feeling you had it too far away to get any light to fall on your subject the way you wanted it..

i looked at your data.. most of these were in the shutter speed range of under 1/200 good.. your sync speeds were ok..

the only thing is get that light source as close to the frame of the camera as possible..

after a couple of shoots you will know where you want to put the light stand..

also are the photos coming out of the camera darker than the screen photo? did you do your adjustment like we talked about? dimming the lcd one step or so?

keep shooting.. i would say, for the first OCF.. that turned out great !

phamster

[Builttuff]

Ok.. built tuff.

here is what i see..

the flash isn't showing up strongly.. but you don't want to over power it either.

what i am guessing is your umbrella was not close enough..

how far away was the brella? just out side of the frame of the camera? or was it about 8-9 feet away..?

i have a feeling you had it too far away to get any light to fall on your subject the way you wanted it..

i looked at your data.. most of these were in the shutter speed range of under 1/200 good.. your sync speeds were ok..

the only thing is get that light source as close to the frame of the camera as possible..

after a couple of shoots you will know where you want to put the light stand..

also are the photos coming out of the camera darker than the screen photo? did you do your adjustment like we talked about? dimming the lcd one step or so?

keep shooting.. i would say, for the first OCF.. that turned out great !

phamster

Ok Pham ster...
Yes I did dim my LCD and I think that helped.

My flash was probably a little further out than Camera frame But not 9 feet. I think my problem was light too head on and too far out. Next time I will try a little bit later in the day and correct the above.

The only problem with later in the day is at this location the gate automatically shuts at dusk. Then your stuck inside all night unless you have one of these! haha Then you go around the gate!

[

[buurin]

here is what i see..

the flash isn't showing up strongly..

Phew... I thought I was crazy when no one backed me up.

[Builttuff]

A big thanks to everyone for their view on picking apart my photos. I am hooked on this and the challange of taking great pics and hopefully one day all this critiquing will pay off!

Phamster You have always excelled in everything you have done so I cant go wrong listening to your advice. When I get a thumbs up from you then I'll know Im where I need to be!