Lets See Your OCF HSS Outdoor Portraiture.

Outdoor OCF in mid-day sun. XPLOR600 in manual mode modified with 60" Octabox camera right.

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Senior Portrait 3

Question for HSS users....Are you always using TTL? If not using TTL (using manual), how do know how to adjust you flash power? Does it just take a lot of practice to have a feel for what power to use at specific SS's? The main reason I don't use HSS is cause of the power loss with increased SS's. I can usually guess at what power setting I'll need with shooting manual and keeping under the max sync speed but I'm all over the place trying to dial in the right power setting when shooting HSS/manual And adjusting shutter speeds on the fly. Do I need to bust out the flash meter?
Thanks

^^^^

I use manual and its all about pratice. Ones youve shot a bunch you can make better starting setting "guesses" and tweak from there. I cant get behind using ettl for shooting a model bc I think it would require more compensating for what the flash is thinking. Start off with a low iso and a the fstop you want. Then meter your ambient light and pick a Sspeed that under exposed the background. I usually just put my flash on full to start and back it down as needed. From there just make sure your light stays the same distence from the model and you are good. After I get my setting good I tweak by moving the light more then anything

DThriller wrote in post #18585570
^^^^

I use manual and its all about pratice. Ones youve shot a bunch you can make better starting setting "guesses" and tweak from there. I cant get behind using ettl for shooting a model bc I think it would require more compensating for what the flash is thinking. Start off with a low iso and a the fstop you want. Then meter your ambient light and pick a Sspeed that under exposed the background. I usually just put my flash on full to start and back it down as needed. From there just make sure your light stays the same distence from the model and you are good. After I get my setting good I tweak by moving the light more then anything

Perfect! Just the answer I was looking for. I'm not new to flash by any means....Just gave up on HSS a long time ago when using just small speedlites. Mainly cause HSS seems kill so much of the power from those little lights. I recently acquired an AD200 and thought I might revisit the idea of HSS as it pack a bit more power. I like the idea of starting at 1/1 and simply backing off as needed. I suppose in a perfect world the SS would not be changing a whole lot allowing you a bit more consistency and predictability from the flash unit while you work.
Thanks!

I use manual too but with Elinchrom I have access to the full range of power of the strobe. I can place a strobe 30 feet away and get what I need. It’s Hi-Sync (HS) not HSS. Elinchrom Has TTL units too. I prefer HS. But, am looking at the new units too. If they play well together I’m in.

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Just practice.

But if you start by exposing the background at shutter speeds above x-sync shutter speeds and then add the light, you can skip the math.

Also, HSS acts like ambient. Double the shutter speed and you need to double the power output or half the distance of the light to the subject.

hnicpena wrote in post #18564346
Lit with XPLOR600 modified by 60" Fotodiox Octabox camera left.

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Senior Portrait 1 by Nicolas Peña on Flickr

Such even lighting. Looks great!

idsurfer wrote in post #18585494
Question for HSS users....Are you always using TTL? If not using TTL (using manual), how do know how to adjust you flash power? Does it just take a lot of practice to have a feel for what power to use at specific SS's? The main reason I don't use HSS is cause of the power loss with increased SS's. I can usually guess at what power setting I'll need with shooting manual and keeping under the max sync speed but I'm all over the place trying to dial in the right power setting when shooting HSS/manual And adjusting shutter speeds on the fly. Do I need to bust out the flash meter?
Thanks

I usually shoot with a deep octa and find that you do need quite a bit of power when shooting HSS mode. Like mentioned by other poster, HSS mode shutter speed affects both flash and ambient. I find AD600 not have enough power for mid day sun but that's wrong time to shoot anyways. What you can do is measure your lights to see how much power they loose as you cross over max sync speed and then as you increase your ss by 1 stop. That will make life easier later as then you know how much more power is needed from your strobe as you go from say 1/250 (your sync) to say 1/500 or 1/1000. On AD600 if I remember correctly, 1-1.5 stops loss on crossing sync speed and then just 1 stop as you increase ss by 1 stop. That last one you gain back as you open your aperture by 1 stop. But turning day into night or even over power ambient by using HSS, not doable unless you start with min 1200 ws IMHO.

driving35mm wrote in post #18585731
Such even lighting. Looks great!

Thank you! I appreciate it.

Here are a few more outdoor portraits at 1/1000 shutter speed. Feel free to add any critique you see fit.

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Senior Portrait 4

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Senior Portrait 5

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Portrait

Awesome processing! (way cool brokeh!!!) Not really a criticism, just an observation on the last image. She has well defined cheeks, I wonder if you had lowered the light just a little bit if the shadows under her cheeks wouldn't be so pronounced?

Kliphe wrote in post #18587005
Awesome processing! (way cool brokeh!!!) Not really a criticism, just an observation on the last image. She has well defined cheeks, I wonder if you had lowered the light just a little bit if the shadows under her cheeks wouldn't be so pronounced?

Thank you! Yes, now that I remember, I had the light pretty high. I believe I had the setup for a group photo before her and didn't adjust the light. I might try dodging a little to see if that might help.

Another Senior from my recent portrait sessions. Canon 85mm F/1.2 (shot at f/2.0), 1/400. OCF

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Senior Portrait

This was a test shot before team pics, but I like how it turned out... Flashpoint XPLOR camera left with just a silver 7" reflector as the wind was blowing 35+ mph and an octabox was not an option on this day, even inside the dugout

This was taken towards the end of a session as the sun was going down and decided to try some artisty with this shot. Does it work? Is it too much? Let me know your thoughts.

Canon 5D III, 135 f/2.0, ISO500, 1/320, OCF

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Artistic Senior Portrait