What do you think of this flash shot?

I setup two small Canon flash units - a 420EX and 430EX set as 1A and 1B. I dialed in a ratio - I think 1:8 and shot with the flashes positioned 4 feet apart and 5 feet away from the subject, controlled by the STE-2. The flashes were aimed directly at the subject. What do you think of the result? By the way, the flashes were about the same level as the subject.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

I think it's terrible. I'm not trying to be harsh, but your lights are being harsh You need to diffuse the light at a minimum, then I would get closer to ambient if I were you.

You should find a way to bounce the light so you don't have the shadow against the curtain. Maybe redirect the light toward the ceiling instead with an index card and/or separated cotton balls attached to it (or something else to diffuse the light)

Even with that, the photo is, for some reason, darker than I would expect with a flash.

If you are trying to get some depth to you photos you can do it this way but the light is going to be pretty harsh as Chad mentioned.

I've been having some good luck with bouncing a 420EX from a 43" silvered umbrella as my key light and using my 580EX II hotshoe mounted (with a diffuser) as fill. For my setup I'm getting the best results using a ratio of 1:3 to 1:4.

My next upgrade will to get an offshoe cord and a small (15"x15") softbox for the 580 EX II to soften the light a bit more and to produce nicer catchlights.

Light source to low regarding position to subject throwing the shadows up instead of down. I would do something to soften the light.

To me, the biggest issue is that the lights are too low. Notice how the shadows go up. If you wanted to make it look sort of like sunlight, I would keep the main an undiffused or only slightly diffused light and diffuse the fill, probably by bouncing off a white card or wall. The exposure looks right on to me.

Since the others have already mentioned the quality of the lights, such as harshness, I'm not going to repeat it. But what I would like to mention is that the lighting ratio does not seem to be set up as 1:8 as you indicated. If it were set up correctly for a 1:8 ratio, you should be able to see one side of the ginger bread house well lit and the other side a little dark. You might want to double check your setting to see why it's not.

I don't really have as big a problem with the direct undiffused light though direction of light is all wrong. Those shadows are BRUTAL, and it's created by direction, not hardness. I'd position the lights higher and put them further apart, before worrying about diffusing them though. Make it so the shadows they cast are out of the frame.

The lighting is VERY flat despite the use of a ratio? As Leo mentioned, the ratio didn't seem to take. The shadow is equal on both sides which says to me the ratio didn't work. Not a bad thing as I've taken many flat still lifes.. but as I said before, coming from higher and further out to the sides.

Thanks guys. I'll try to position the light higher for my next still-life. As my stepson has commenced eating the gingerbread house there's not much chance of doing the gingerbread house again so I'll probably dust off Yorrick.

I saw 2 shadow in left object so that mean the ratio you set is work ...the shadow one on the left is darker than the right .Try set the flash at difference angle and then you will find the right spot .

forkball wrote in post #4618660
I don't really have as big a problem with the direct undiffused light though direction of light is all wrong. Those shadows are BRUTAL, and it's created by direction, not hardness. I'd position the lights higher and put them further apart, before worrying about diffusing them though. Make it so the shadows they cast are out of the frame.

The lighting is VERY flat despite the use of a ratio? As Leo mentioned, the ratio didn't seem to take. The shadow is equal on both sides which says to me the ratio didn't work. Not a bad thing as I've taken many flat still lifes.. but as I said before, coming from higher and further out to the sides.

I wanted to post this as an example of what I was talking about. The lighting here is actually two clamp lights with 150 watt natural color bulbs. One high right and one high left. The white paper sweep that the lens sits on was able to get enough light to sort of blow out. No diffusion was used. The light was hard and contrasty, not too flat. Direction of the light is the key factor here: