First Paid Gig - 1st Birthday Party

Hey Guys, This was my first paid gig. Kind of fell into it as a referral by a friend. It was my first time using my 430 ex ii to get some of these shots, before this shoot I dabbled with it but barely used it. Looking for come CC to better myself in the future. Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking!!!

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you got their happiness, can't get better than that

To be honest, they look like snapshots... Great snapshots, but not "paid" shots. Busy backgrounds... To many things competing for visual attention pulling away from subject. Still GREAT snapshots!

1. Focus would be better on the face of the subjects. Father not dressed appropriate for photos.

2. Cute photo, but angle is off. Would be better behind the mother with child looking over shoulder.

3. Super cute, but child is in stroller and a bright pink one at that...

4. Great expressions, but looks more like a candid street shot. Would benefit being black and white.

5. Cute idea, but needs more thought. Get lower, background too busy, complety centered, and the shadow under chin is distracting.

6. Rule of thirds draws my eyes to the bottom of adult... Just does not seem planned out...

I'm sorry, I agree, very snapshotty, they look like photos anyone would have taken with a 'nice' camera. Most are underexposed as well.

Thanks for the opinions, I'm always looking to improve. The shoot was at a first birthday party with 150 people in a house that basically should have held 40 max. It was incredibly crowded so there was very little open space for clean backgrounds. Halfway through the party there was a crazy rainstorm so everyone was forced to go inside so again very very tight quarters with way too many people there. Its also the reason for the super casual dress of the guests. I honestly believe it was a challenging shoot, especially for my first one just due to the inherent weather and space related issues. I understand that its part of being the photographer who adapts to the situation. I didn't do much in post besides clean up the noise, clean up the eyes a bit and some teeth. I have to learn how to better direct my flash so that I can shoot at a lower iso in darker conditions without blowing out the subjects and I have a long way to go with learning how to best use fill flash in brighter conditions. ETTL was hit or miss. Thanks again for your replies, and if there are any more I'm happy to hear about them!

Are you using a modifier on your flash? How are you bouncing it? Behind you? Straight up? I personally have used a Demb Flip It for years and I love it because it allows you a lot of flexibility in angling your light and it helps in situations where you might not have a good bounce surface behind you.

I have the better bounce card, I know everyone makes this themselves but honestly I just didn't have the time so I bought one. I didn't bring it, I really really should have but I didn't. The one time I tried using it before that I ended up not having the settings correct on my flash since I like shooting at wide apertures the flash was not on HSS and I was whiting out most of my shots. Photography is a learning process, and the best way to get better is to read, learn, and practice. Next time I'll bring the card with me.

My flash for the most part was bounced off of the tent outside and under the tent, outside in the light it was direct flash to try to get rid of some of the inconsistent shadows from the trees overhead and in doors it was bounced off of the ceiling but everything was painted a goldy beige leaving the white balance way off. Had to fix that in post on pretty much everything indoors.

Any tips would be appreciated as lighting is easily the weakest part of my skill set. Thanks again for the help!

Think you missed an opportunity in the first pic to focus on the reflected image.

jbm7777 wrote in post #14820846
I have the better bounce card, I know everyone makes this themselves but honestly I just didn't have the time so I bought one. I didn't bring it, I really really should have but I didn't. The one time I tried using it before that I ended up not having the settings correct on my flash since I like shooting at wide apertures the flash was not on HSS and I was whiting out most of my shots. Photography is a learning process, and the best way to get better is to read, learn, and practice. Next time I'll bring the card with me.

My flash for the most part was bounced off of the tent outside and under the tent, outside in the light it was direct flash to try to get rid of some of the inconsistent shadows from the trees overhead and in doors it was bounced off of the ceiling but everything was painted a goldy beige leaving the white balance way off. Had to fix that in post on pretty much everything indoors.


Any tips would be appreciated as lighting is easily the weakest part of my skill set. Thanks again for the help!

At these kind of things it is often best to try to get people close enough to a wall so you can bounce the flash in such a way that it comes laterally onto the face. If you bounce the flash off a ceiling, it will often give shaddows under the eyes. Do everything you can to try to get the flash off the camera. An assistant carrying a remote flash with a shoot through umbrella works well. The other thing that helps is to get used to shooting in manual mode and setting your exposure in such a way that the background that isn't lit by the flash is still exposed and doesn't go black.

There are many great books about basic lighting techniques an it is a great investment to read a few if you will be doing more paid shoots.

Bouncing off the ceiling really isn't attractive light. It sends the light downward which can result in dark eyes. It's better to have light coming from behind you. You should really look into the flip it, it's pretty sweet. And it's very affordable. Practice, practice, practice!

Fantastic, thanks for the info guys! I have the speedlighters handbook and got about halfway through it before I got bogged down with wedding stuff (getting married in 2 weeks), I'm planning on bringing that book with me. I smell some radio triggers in my future!

Thanks again guys!

"I have to learn how to better direct my flash so that I can shoot at a lower iso in darker conditions without blowing out the subjects and I have a long way to go with learning how to best use fill flash in brighter conditions. ETTL was hit or miss."

For darker conditions, in order to have the foreground match the background, there really isn't any way to get around a higher ISO. Usually the higher, the more natural the setting will look. Also, remember with ETTL on the flash, you can always stop down. I usually never have the flash at 0. Usually outdoors I drop it to -1 or so and indoors I bounce flash and sometimes crank it up to +5.