Narrow DOF shots with Speedlites

Getting a little burn-out with studio lighting at f8 or higher, I switched mood to shoot some low DOF shots, using my 2 Speedlites with ETTL wireless setup: 50mm lens, all between f1.4-f2.2, slave 430 EX in a home made diffuser with heart shape mask at close distance, master 580 EX on camera pointing straight up to the ceiling, ratio 1:8. The model is my daughter sitting on a office chair in our bedroom. Some vignetting PP.

C&C please.

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Hi Lotto,

As always, I love your pics and what a cute little girl you've got there. The heart shaped catchlights are pretty neat. I do have a question and comment. The lighting seems fairly even. How exactly are you adjusting your main and fill flashes with no modeling lights? It looks like you could have brought down the fill side a little to allow for a little more highlight and shadow. How are you metering?

Hey Robert, thanks for your comment. My daughter just turns 6 years old and is still very tiny, it's hard to have "modeling" light on her because any diffused light would wrap around her face easily, unless I put the light really off the side or far away.

Anyway, I was try to shoot with f1.4, so the Bees is out due to not be able to adjusted low enough and the modeling light would give color cast at f1.4. And I wanted the background lot darker (messy room) contrast to her face, catchlights at or close to center of her eyes, so the main flash was about a foot away from her just off the camera left. There was not much fill flash at all. The metering is full ETTL auto with +2/3 FEC.

From past experience, I knew that I only got about 10 mins to shoot before my daughter loose interest, so I don't have much time for lights placements/adjustments​. That's where Canon ETTL comes in handy sometimes.

Lotto wrote in post #2614360
Hey Robert, thanks for your comment. My daughter just turns 6 years old and is still very tiny, it's hard to have "modeling" light on her because any diffused light would wrap around her face easily, unless I put the light really off the side or far away.

Anyway, I was try to shoot with f1.4, so the Bees is out due to not be able to adjusted low enough and the modeling light would give color cast at f1.4. And I wanted the background lot darker (messy room) contrast to her face, catchlights at or close to center of her eyes, so the main flash was about a foot away from her just off the camera left. There was not much fill flash at all. The metering is full ETTL auto with +2/3 FEC.

From past experience, I knew that I only got about 10 mins to shoot before my daughter loose interest, so I don't have much time for lights placements/adjustments​. That's where Canon ETTL comes in handy sometimes.

I understand Lotto. I wasn't even thinking about her age and how the facial features have less depth at that age. What you're saying makes perfect sense.