First strobist shot, would really appreciate comments and feedback!

Hello everybody,

As the topictitle suggests, I've recently done my first strobist shot and I'm pretty proud of the outcome!
I've placed this in the approriate thread already and got some feedback, but here I'm looking for people that might look at it differently or haven't seen it in the aforementioned thread...

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XT500 i had one of those a couple years back. Pity that time i knew nothing about bikes and i ''modified'' it until i messed it up so bad i had to sell it.On the image i think you did very well. Better than anything i have been able to do with strobes. The only avice i can give is try to mix n match in coloured gel the next time to give it a more cinematic feel.

My dad and a few of his friends all bought themselves a XT 500 a little while ago, and started working on them... They were in pretty rough shape and they all put a lot of time and effort in getting them up and running, but because of nostalgic reasons they had fun doing so

About those gels, I've heard it before and I certainly understand where you're coming from! I don't have any so this will have to do for now, but it would be interesting to try and gel my flashes sometimes (I shot this with two Yongnuo YN560's both through umbrellas, triggered with Cactus V5).

As for the "better than anything I have been able to do with strobes", I think this was also partially luck. I've never really used flash before and after just some setting up this just happened, I'm pretty sure anyone can do it as long as you try

I really like what you have done here, it's very professional looking to me.
Your composition is REALLY good, your lighting is good, your choice of models is good, the warehouse looks good, so it's ALL good!

I'm not sure if this is your style or not, but to me, the whites are almost blown out, (or, are) and the blacks are almost solid, which shouldn't be. I say that, but if you did it intentionally, that is your style. (And who am I to say?)

One little thing that doesn't bother me, but could add to it 'some'...
The place looks like an old warehouse, but the floor's only slightly dirty. (Or, it's leaves, I can't tell) To me, the floor should be swept up, or about 3 times more 'stuff' in it to give it a more gritty look. Personally, I'd rather see more leaves, or whatever, not a whole lot, but something to 'add to' it, rather than distract our eyes from the main subject.
One more thing, the 'red bag' or whatever it is on the rear fender is kind of distracting, you could de-saturate that yo make it not so noticeable, that's be my only real crit.

Like I said though, I think you did a really nice job on this, and if you left it alone it's still a great job!

Randy

I haven't tried my hand at strobist photos yet, even thuogh I have the equipment for it, but from what I can tell this looks pretty good. I'd have to agree about the gel on the flash, something to warm it up just a tad but I know all about working with what you've got and you did a fine job.

The one thing that really stands out to me is that red thing behind the seat. I think I would have removed that from the bike foe the photo...IF it's removable. I know nothing of motorcycles other than they have 2 wheels.

@recrips

Thank you for your kind words and feedback! I like the look with contrast, just to emphasize the 'toughness' of it all

The terrain was as it was, I asked the owner whether or not he would let me shoot there, and he wasn't all too excited... I told him it was just my dad and I and it had nothing to do with selling my images or anything related, just for practice. He finally gave in, but when I came home my dad announced that he had invited a friend (pictured above) to come along... It all went well in the end, the additional 'model' wasn't a big deal and there was actually another owner there that had more say in all of it than the one I spoke earlier, and he certainly enjoyed those old bikes!

The red bag caught my eye at first too, and I thought of having it taken of the bike but then I thought... Why would I? It's his bike and it's his memory, I'm not asking him to alter the look of his bike (even slightly) just because I'd rather not have it there... I haven't really thought about doing something about it in the post-process though.


@rivas8409

Thank you for compliment, very kind... I had to work with what I had indeed, I guess everyone can relate to that

About the red thingy, I believe I covered that in my answer towards recrisp... If anything is unclear however, just shoot

What you say all makes sense. I just 'assumed' that you were in complete control over this shoot, I didn't realize that this was friends and the conditions. Sometimes you take what you can get, and what you needed up with looked like you had 'models', and a professional set-up, so I was fooled, which is a compliment to you.
You are right about the bag, I didn't realize that, and you're right, it's his bike. heheh

Randy

I really like the way this came out. I'm not a big fan of the sun glint in the back, but it does add some depth.

@recrisp

I fired two Yongnuo YN560 flashes through white shoot through umbrellas using the Cactus V5 system. I don't know exactly what professional is (more expensive is always better, according to the filthy rich) but I consider this a poor man's strobist set-up


@DistantFX

Thank you! I saw the sun entering my lens and thought "let's go with it, see how it turns out" and I kept it for the same reason... I think it adds a little to the picture as well!

I'm drawn the the left, the sun rays, if you could tone these down a bit I think you'd have a wall hanger...

Very nice! This stuff is definitely not easy! I've been playing with OCF (no umbrellas though) recently and slowly getting better at it. I think this shot is great, sun flare, bike bag, and all. Excellent pose with the helmet and one hand on the handlebar, looks solid from my unprofessional point of view

On the gels, I recently got those (based on suggestions from members here on some of my photos I posted for critique) and have to say they are awesome. Being able to match the lighting of the flash to surrounding lighting conditions is pretty neat. I have only used a few of them so far, and in one case I got (what I felt) was a pretty good result. I won't thread-jack by posting it here, it's on my Flickr, just search for "Diavelgate". It was my first attempt, too.

This Strobist stuff is pretty cool, lots to learn...

Anyway great job on this overall!

i think it looks great!! Love the composition and the look of the whole shot..

1 thing I would say is maybe have the light just a touch softer?? but the is a very little "1 thing"

@tmoore323

You're a tad too late, the 'model' already printed it as large as A0...


@ddk632

Strobist is neat indeed, seems as though the only limitation is your imagination (and your budget perhaps). If Diavelgate is your first shot, then hats off, looks really nice! And it does show how gels tend to give a more natural feeling to the entire picture, will look into that


@Rushmore

The light was quick and dirty indeed... I didn't really took the time to review and rethink the light as I didn't watch my LCD screen too much, but it's certainly something I'll think of next time around

Katalyst wrote in post #15314063
@tmoore323

You're a tad too late, the 'model' already printed it as large as A0...

Well glad he liked it, and that is all that counts

I wouldn't have though...

Your rim light is too powerful. His face is too hot on camera right. When setting rim flash power, there is very fine line between well done and over done. Good way to do is to take a test shot and zoom in to see if there are details left. I do that even I use light meter