Aly under the Pier - Santa Monica Pier Senior 2010

Aly and her family had vacation in Los Angeles the same time i was there, so natural we took advantage of this setting.

We both are from the midwest so Santa Monica pier would create a wonderful and different photo setting. Her Friend was with her too, and had senior photos done in a Studio.. i bet you she was jealous..

My Lighting was the Profoto Location Pack rented from Samy's of L.A. great store. rented from thurs @ 3pm till Sat 11Am only was 85 dollars with extra battery. Pretty good deal when i looked into shipping out my Alien bee system the total cost was about $50.. about the same..

lighting was on 1/2 power and about 10 feet from the subject. Beauty Dish was the modifier.

her are some i liked.. thanks to Misha.. he explained to me, at the golden hours-the light is really golden and i should move over to the edge of the pier.. so i moved over to the edge and worked with this dreamy light.. never thought it would be this golden.. locals are always right !

1

Nice shots Phamster. Nice lighing all around. I like #2 the most.

Not really fond of the posing in 5. Looks like it would better for a maternity shoot. A few other poses are too square, as well.

Overall, looks like as fun shoot with good results. I hope you didn't have to pay permit and shooting fees here.

Well done! these are Phamtastic
3,4, and 6 or my favs, for sure! I'm SURE her friend was jealous!

These are fantastic phamster, of course I haven't really seen any of your post that were not. I would not be surprised if her friend wanted you to re shoot her senior pics after seeing these.

Do you think you would have been able to pull off this lighting with speedlights and HSS?

Redfire_Cobra wrote in post #8303145
These are fantastic phamster, of course I haven't really seen any of your post that were not. I would not be surprised if her friend wanted you to re shoot her senior pics after seeing these.

Do you think you would have been able to pull off this lighting with speedlights and HSS?

i was looking at the data..

#1 was fstop of 5.0, Iso 100, 1/60 hand held to drag the colors of the water in..

so yea.. i think the speed light in a soft box @ full power would have done this shot.

but you can also just up the ISO and get the shot too..

most of these shots were done under the pier, so it would be like working in the shade.

the soft box would have been really close to the frame though(my westcott eats up lots of power).. and that will not give you flexiblity as the rented beauty dish set up.

the profoto pack allowed me the separation of light source away from the frame -allows me flexibility to work the subject, facing inward towards the light vs. always facing outward toward the frame only.. hope you know what i am trying to say. Although in #1 she was facing outward towards the light source.. i did this because her hair part is on that side.. and i wanted to thin her out with that out fit on, so this was my solution.

that was one of the reasons i got the alien bee set up.. power to have the light far away.. and power to let the subject face inward towards the center of the frame and the light strong enough to reach across the frame to properly light up the subject..

Good info, I also find the same thing when using my Westcott, I have had to clone it out of several shots now. The umbrella's I have don't soak up as much power but they seem to throw light everywhere and not just where I want it. I may have to start checking into an alien bee setup.

Pham, What is going on with your colors in the first couple of images?

#1 the red dress is completely gone, maybe its the fabric?
#2 Way too much red glare, I could see her side and back getting some from the boat she is sitting in front of, but she has a red tint on the front leg facing the flash too. Weird.

The rest of them are good but they all seem to have a slight color cast one way or another.

Now I'm thinking you were doing it on purpose, if so enlighten us to your thinking please.

aram535 wrote in post #8304744
Pham, What is going on with your colors in the first couple of images?

#1 the red dress is completely gone, maybe its the fabric?
#2 Way too much red glare, I could see her side and back getting some from the boat she is sitting in front of, but she has a red tint on the front leg facing the flash too. Weird.

The rest of them are good but they all seem to have a slight color cast one way or another.

Now I'm thinking you were doing it on purpose, if so enlighten us to your thinking please.

lets see.. the red in the dress isn't red because it was a redish pink dress.. off red. - problem solved?

as to the second photo.. i don't see what you are talking about on her right leg. the leg closest to the flash.. i have looked and still don't see it.. she has a birth mark on her right leg just above the knee if that is what you are talking about.

aram535 wrote in post #8304744
Pham, What is going on with your colors in the first couple of images?

#1 the red dress is completely gone, maybe its the fabric?
#2 Way too much red glare, I could see her side and back getting some from the boat she is sitting in front of, but she has a red tint on the front leg facing the flash too. Weird.

The rest of them are good but they all seem to have a slight color cast one way or another.

Now I'm thinking you were doing it on purpose, if so enlighten us to your thinking please.

I will have to disagree in an highly unbiased way. Since I was present at the shoot I will tell you that the dress was pink. The colors are fine here. really.
The red glare is not too much.. her face looks normal and yes, there's a red colored reflection on her left leg but that's just the oat's reflection. It's normal and not distracting in any way.

I do agree with the not too flattering pose in 5 but that's about it.
Lastly I think there should be some variety of facial expressions. She has a great smile, but... I want to see more. I know you have them too, CT
Everything else is very fun, classic Phamster (constantly improving) and my fav is the last one... really though. no... really. lol

Odd. Must me my monitor or something, because in #1 [[the dress only]] other than a few creases behind her (and right above her arm), it's a flat color, nothing else. Maybe it's the jpeg compression. Also, the exposure on her face/bg is perfect so I know nothing could have been done differently.

The second one if I compare the lets say 2 & 5 -- you don't think she is a lot more red?

BTW -- nobody has to come to Pham's defense. He does lovely work all the time, I was just asking to see if he had done it on purposes. Otherwise blame it as my eyes and monitor.

aram535 wrote in post #8305710
Odd. Must me my monitor or something, because in #1 [[the dress only]] other than a few creases behind her (and right above her arm), it's a flat color, nothing else. Maybe it's the jpeg compression. Also, the exposure on her face/bg is perfect so I know nothing could have been done differently.

The second one if I compare the lets say 2 & 5 -- you don't think she is a lot more red?

BTW -- nobody has to come to Pham's defense. He does lovely work all the time, I was just asking to see if he had done it on purposes. Otherwise blame it as my eyes and monitor.

her is the dress in the area mention above cropped.. it is just shadows and the off pink - no worries.. you and mattograph are my toughest critics.

good stuff !!

Very nice, I really like the replacement image.

Nice shots men, great work

A resurrected thread. Makes me miss Misha.