Post your best flash/ambient balance pics...

A shot from Christmas, 580 bounced off the wall, 85mm at 1.2...

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Here is one from Christmas.
Three lights sources;
Overcast sky at just about sunset.
Decorating lights
600EX-RT bounced off windows and interior walls to camera left with 1/4 CTO.
Manual exposure on camera ETTL on flash.

AdoriaPhotography wrote in post #15413627
This was taken using a 580exii and a 430ex in a Kacey beauty dish.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …iaphotography/8​248999573/
Garden Portrait by adoriaphotography, on Flickr

How did you have the two speedlites configured?
Both in the dish or one in dish and another modifier?

Nice looking image. The shadow(s) under her chin are distracting. There are three of them.
I suspect that the inner and outer shadows are from the BD. That is sometimes a problem and can be minimized or eliminated with careful positioning of the light in the modifier and feathering the modifier carefully. The other, elongating shadow, I suspect is from the other light source which appears to have been on the other side of the camera from the main light. This to can be minimized or eliminated by taking care with placement, ratio, and feathering.

dmward wrote in post #15413738
How did you have the two speedlites configured?
Both in the dish or one in dish and another modifier?

Nice looking image. The shadow(s) under her chin are distracting. There are three of them.
I suspect that the inner and outer shadows are from the BD. That is sometimes a problem and can be minimized or eliminated with careful positioning of the light in the modifier and feathering the modifier carefully. The other, elongating shadow, I suspect is from the other light source which appears to have been on the other side of the camera from the main light. This to can be minimized or eliminated by taking care with placement, ratio, and feathering.

Both speedlights were mounted on a double bracket within the single beauty dish which was handheld by an assistant.
Good points re the shadows and tips for eliminating them. Ideally I should have had another smaller fill light from the lower right. For this shoot we only had the single beauty dish on a pole as we were constantly mobile around different areas of a large park for about an hour and a half.
Thanks for the advice - I will keep an eye on that shadow next time.

f.y.i. Here is another from the same session that, although being dark under the chin it has less of the contrasting light and shade, so hopefully it is less of a distraction.

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Its been awhile since I used by Kacey bracket with my BD. As I recall one challenge is getting the zoom set properly on the speedlites. If its too wide the cone misses the deflection disk and just bounces off the outer edge of the dish. That could be a contributing factor as well. My dish is not a Kacey and does not have the stepped design so there may be a difference in that regard as well.

The second image looks great. It also looks, based on the catch lights in the eyes that the light was closer to the lens axis with is also beneficial with a beauty dish. I also suspect it was at the outer limits of distance from the subject for best light shaping as well.

I really like the second shot -- great expressions and good light.

On the girl, looking now on a Mac Book Air I see that the head is less exposed compared to her chest.
That implies the light center was too low which would also impact the light shaping.

Thanks dmward for the great pointers. I will need to play around some more with the zoom settings to work on the optimal light from the dish. I haven't really explored the limits of the zoom.
I also agree that the first image of the girl may have had the dish pointed too low. I also believe you are right about the light being better in the second image where the angle is not too far from the plane of the camera, especially as I didn't have a fill light for the shadowy areas.
I'll experiment more on these aspects in upcoming shoots to see if I can get a better bd effect.
Cheers

Great idea for a thread. I'll play. Here are a couple of family shots from this year that I hope meet the criteria.

1. 580EX on camera pointed straight up at the ceiling but rotated 45 degrees. In retrospect I wish I would have used a 1/200 shutter speed instead of 1/160 so the window would have blown out just a bit less.

Shot in a local forest - the guy was training for the Spartan Death Race (http://www.youmaydie.c​om/)

Shot on a 7D with an 85mm f/1.8 prime.

Two 580exIIs in an Apollo Orb to camera right, being triggered by a master (no flash) 580exII on the camera body. Full ETTL, dialled down to -1 I believe

IMAGE LINK: http://www.rt2photo.co​m/p44476195/e4d6cbaf0

swjim wrote in post #15415898
Great idea for a thread. I'll play. Here are a couple of family shots from this year that I hope meet the criteria.

1. 580EX on camera pointed straight up at the ceiling but rotated 45 degrees. In retrospect I wish I would have used a 1/200 shutter speed instead of 1/160 so the window would have blown out just a bit less.

If it were me, I'd have put her more in front of the window, aimed the flash more to the side to get some modeling.

Similar to this: (the same situation as your image. Window behind, single speedlite on camera bounced back about 45* right and up toward corner of wall and ceiling.

Great feedback, David, I will try that next time. Thanks, and nice shot!

I typically use AV mode, set my desired aperture and ISO. I shoot in ETTL using PW mini and TT5, but add exposure comp to taste. These are all cross lit with 2 speedlites in shoot thru umbrellas, bare bulb or a combo.

1.

RandyMN wrote in post #15397057
Her face has some shadows that make it appear to be too much flash, but the rest looks balanced with sunlight.

I don't think it's too much flash. Well balanced I would say. Although I would have at least tried it with the flash on the other side so it didn't cast his shadow onto her face. Nice setup.

Here is one from around Thanksgiving.

whoty wrote in post #15386312
These images are rarely seen imo. I know I'm guilty of it. I rarely try to balance the ambient with flash. Im usually trying to overpower the ambient. But,shots where the balance is really nice comes out great. I think in this new year coming,that will be my goal. I'm gonna start balancing my light better. Or,at least try. Post your example of your well balanced photos. I know a lot of have some.

If I had to choose,I'd say this is my best one. I used a -1 stop ND
f/4
1/80 sec
ISO 400

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/ddbias/72998628​02/
Heidi Jo by DBiasphotography, on Flickr

WOW! Thats scary good.

swjim wrote in post #15415898
Great idea for a thread. I'll play. Here are a couple of family shots from this year that I hope meet the criteria.

1. 580EX on camera pointed straight up at the ceiling but rotated 45 degrees. In retrospect I wish I would have used a 1/200 shutter speed instead of 1/160 so the window would have blown out just a bit less.

Camera
Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Focal Length
85mm

Aperture
f/2.5

Exposure
1/160s

ISO
800



2. 580EX on camera fired directly at my son.

Camera
Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Focal Length
42mm

Aperture
f/9

Exposure
1/200s

ISO
100

Tough shot with the window there. Good job.