A few from the other day..

Still trying to learn my light and positioning it.

Here is a natural light shot. I like it.. I know my PP work is lacking. Trying to learn both PS and LR seems daunting and have thought about putting PS on the back burner and just get consistent with LR first.

I think the light's power could have been lower in number one. The highlight on the near side looks out of place with the strong backlight.

Number two looks well lit to me. I would prefer seeing the childs face over its bum, though. Maybe turning them to get at least a partial face on both.

Overall I like them both.

Heya,

Looking good, you've definitely improved your blending of flash & ambient compared to before, going in the right direction for sure.

CC:

Image 1 - Maybe drop flash output by 1/3rd of a stop to 2/3rds of a stop to make it more fill, in this case, it's closer to key exposure, to get a more natural looking blend. Also, a 1/4th CTO gel would have warmed it up a touch to make it blend in more naturally to ambient temperature light so it looks more natural.

Image 2 - Nicely blended, good very close to fill light. Maybe consider position your light opposite the sun highlight next time.

Image 3 - Very nice, but I would go for more depth of field so that you have the eyes & nose and jaw line in focus, not just the one eye. Exposure & composition and light are very nice. A little more depth of field so that more was in focus in depth of field would perhaps have made it close to perfect. At this range, consider F4 or F5.6 next time.

Great work, huge leaps from before!

Very best,

Hello, how are ya? Thanks for the kind word and input. While I have you here let me ask a few questions. When I get to my location and set up.. I look at my flash and just stand there lol... I really do not know where to start as far as choosing the amount of power I should use. Any advice on this?
Also, the colors.. I'm not getting the colors that I want. Is it my WB or are they fine and it's my eyes? Still to this day I have not used a Gray card. Is this something I need to be doing Everytime I go out and take pictures?

I am after really rich colors and just can't seem to get it. I posted just an example of some work that has the colors that I love. Is it lens, lightroom???
https://www.instagram.​com/ipateva.anna.famil​yart/

If me posting this link breaks any rules, I apologize and will take it down. Again, thank you for all your help.

Thank you! My daughter was not into the picture taking that day and if I turned her around you would be looking at a crying baby. lol..

I may be the wrong guy to ask. I just shoot a couple of pics to get the shutter speed and aperture that exposes the background the way I want. Then I set the the flash at 1/8 and go up or down until I get the right look.

In your photo one the highlight gives away the flash to anyone looking for it. I'd try 1/16 if I saw that at 1/8. Just drop until her face was lit well without the highlight. Maybe move it around to her front a little if you can't have a well lit face without getting the line.

Malveaux's suggestion of 1/4 or 1/2 CTO gel is to match the color of the strobe to the color of the late afternoon or early morning sun. It helps even the skin tones on the flash and natural light portions of the face.

Heya,

I start around 1/4th power, meter my light, and adjust from there. You can get it there within one shot or two shots of your light with your light meter since it's easy to count stops.

It's just your white balance, warm it up, and you'll probably start getting what you're after. This is why I suggest a gel, like a 1/4th CTO gel, to warm up the flash. In post (shooting RAW) adjust the temperature custom (in Kelvin) to different temps and take a look, see what you like best. I like them warmer myself. Up to you! Also play with vibrance & saturation in post. I don't use grey cards either. I'm not after accuracy of color, I'm just looking to make it how I want it to be.

If you really want richer color, increase contrast, increase vibrance and increase saturation. Just avoid going overboard to the circus with it.

Very best,

My attempt at Photoshop..

My opinion only, which normally varies from others here, is you have gone too far with what you did in PS. Although some may like the creamy smooth skin, it is unnatural not to see any texture to the skin.

Most everything, especially her eyes, have gone soft. I like to see eyes have some sparkle, some life in them. Along with that, the eyelashes and brow could be sharper. A portrait normally will draw the viewers eyes to the eyes of the subject - that should be the main emphasis of the shot.

I do like the look of the shot though. Lighting is complimentary to her without being overdone. If I had to pick, the light flare (viewer left) would not light the face as seen (viewer right).

I agree with the others above that you are making progress in the right direction.

Give thanks to your wife for being a willing participant in your learning. She will be getting great shots from you soon.

Gart

Yeah, I am lost when it come to Photoshop lol.. I try brushes.. dodge and burn.. you name it. Guess like anything take a lot of practice. But I can never get skin to look "normal" after a brush. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm going to try frequency separation and see it it's better for me.
I'm open to any advice.

Frequency separation is the right thing. I don't have much need for skin retouching so I can't offer advice. I have tried it on self portraits just to get a feel for it and it works well.

You may want to get something like portrait pro for a quick and easy fix until you feel that you can do better yourself. http://www.portraitpro​fessional.com/