Still trying flash outdoors

And loving it! I love getting outside and taking pictures and the cooler weather is on the way.
I'm am new at this but with this fourm and it's members.. it make learning some much easier. Thanks. Here is a few.. easy on me now

A few more

What modifier, mate? Deepish octa?

As for CC: inconsistent gamma, etc.
Nothing more from me, as i am on the phone.
Overall it looks good from where i am standing

Since the intent of your posting is to learn from others, here is what I see:
#1. Focus is soft and the sun is so hot it leads my eyes (however burning) into it. Since we do see the sun, the cross-shadow of the flash that is visible tips your hand that flash was used. The expected results, in this case, is to have used flash to enhance the photo but should not be noticeable that it was fired (hope that made sense).
#2. Same as #1 - especially soft and out of focus. The lower legs are sharper than the mom's face. You don't want someone looking in that area unintentionally plus the blurred brown thing between her legs is indescribable at this time of day. Plus a little spot removal of the spot below her left knee - it looks like a fly.
#3. Best one of the lot. The position of the sun is better along with the pose. Especially like the way the sun is rim-lighting her hair. The shadow of the light is still noticeable but not as pronounced as the other ones.
#4. Similar response as to #1 and #2. You have the harsh sunlight coming directly into the camera but the shadows indicate light from photo right to left.

If you would state what you used for gear you may get some constructive advice to help out. For instance: did you use a softbox or speedlight on a stand? Did you gel the flash with orange? This would get color cast closer to the sunlight. The light from the flash looks white while the sunlight is yellow/orange/golden.

Looks like you have the right idea in mind but I don't like the sun coming straight into the lens if you have a different subject in the photo.

Gart

Heya,

Looks like it's time to add a gel to the mix so that you can mix your flash temperature to ambient temperature better, it will look less flashed. I would start with a 1/4th CTO or 1/2 CTO. I just buy the stuff in sheets on Amazon (12" x 12") and cut it myself to fit my lights and I just use velcro tape to attach it. Cheap and works. In this case, the warm sunlight temperature needed a similar warmth from your flash, and flashes are typically daylight temperature (5200k~5600k) versus the 9000k or so (just guessing) of that sun temperature.

As for lighting, I think if you meter it to mostly fill, it will blend into the ambient better. Here I think it's metered to be almost key level exposure or just a hair below. Also, I can't be sure, but I would try to get the lights closer to the subjects, to get more wrap around. What size modifier did you use and how far away?

For focus, when the sun is directly entering your lens like this, your system will have a hard time nailing focus because the flare is in the lens and causing a lot of contrast so the AF system will hunt and not get it in focus often. If you shield the sun with your hand, obtain focus, then move your hand, you can get crisp-in-focus shots with direct sun a lot easier.

Maybe clone out debris that got stuck on mom's legs in #2.

It's pretty easy to see that you used blur post processing on the foliage behind the tree, the edge of your brush needs to be much softer to blend it if you want to try to do this. I would be interested to see the background without the blur processing on the foliage. I can see a sliver of it in the first image at the tree trunk, and it's busier without the blur, but I think natural without the processing would look better than the processing is presenting here.

Here's an example of some 1/4th CTO gel sheet, cut and velcro taped onto some speedlite heads:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/AKgJ​CZ

IMHO, all of these images would be better if you had excluded the sun from the image. The sun is so bright that it competes with your family for your viewer's attention. If you want your viewer to concentrate on your family, why distract them with another subject in the image?

The first image, I'd crop directly below the fork of the tree. This image and all of the others would have benefited from the use of a gel as has already been mentioned.

The second image I would probably leave a portion of the sun so I could include the sun rays. As someone else mentioned, the focus is a little off.

The third and fourth images, I'd include the rays, but not the sun.

You're showing a lot of improvement, James. Just a few minor tweaks and you'll have some wonderful family photos. Keep shooting!

Thanks for all the advice! I'm really busy with work right now. I will look into the gels, thank you.
It was a yongnuo flash with a shoot through umbrella.
1/200 iso 200
85mm 1.8

1/4th CTO.. is that what you would recommend getting? Don't they come in various "levels"?

Evertking wrote in post #18152477
1/4th CTO.. is that what you would recommend getting? Don't they come in various "levels"?

Instead of buying the individual gels, you may want to consider buying a kit to get you started. Here's a link to an inexpensive starter kit:
https://www.amazon.com …ter-SE-CG20/dp/B00URG1C2C

#3 is the nicest for me, just crop out the top so you just have the yellow rays of sun filtering through. The bright sun just overpowers the shots. this pic would have nailed it had the baby looked at the camera, though.

Evertking wrote in post #18152477
1/4th CTO.. is that what you would recommend getting? Don't they come in various "levels"?

Nope,

CTO Gels come in 1/4th, 1/2, full strength, etc. They're temperatures. A single sheet of 1/4th will do a lot, it helps more naturally blend ambient, indoor, etc, on warmer days. You don't need it when it's a colder day, like early morning or blue days, etc.

I buy an inexpensive sheet of Lee 1/4 CTO 24x21" like this ($10):

https://www.amazon.com …rds=lee+1%2F4th​+cto+sheet

And I cut enough gels for literally everything with tons of left over.

Again, I use velcro tape and cut it into little strips, one piece goes on the gel, one side goes on the flash head. Like you see in the images above. Goes on, stays on, no annoying fitting, etc. Very simple. I have 6 flashes and 4 monolights, so this is more economical than getting kits for everything.

Very best,