Critique please - single off-camera flash

I was asked by a friend to take some shots of their 4-year old son.

I am just starting to use off-camera lighting (which right now is simply a 430exII and a long OC cord). Used a 40D with 70-200 2.8 IS.

These were done when the sun was pretty high, so I put the shoot through umbrella to my left and pretty close to subject.

I learned a great deal from this first outing already (like finding weights for umbrella stand next time...lol), but am hoping for even more input to fix/enhance my shots in the future.

Please comment on anything from technique, gear , processing, whatever.

Oh, I can handle brutal honesty so fire away. Thanks.

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Looks great, but maybe a little spark in the eyes would be nice.

Yann

Agreed. For an afternoon shoot should I go bare flash for more power, change FEC, or what?

Here is another shot from the same location an hour later with some clouds. I obviously used a higher flash to ambient ratio in these. Do you think in between would work best for this type of portrait?

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You have done a great job with these, love the light and the poses, and love that you were aware of your backgrounds.

Thanks Flo.

I'm still interested in any corrections/improvemen​ts for the future if anyone has more to add.

Yup agreed, these are good photos... well done.

I would like to respectfully point out that I am not the same "Clint" as is in another thread currently going on this forum

Clint3200 wrote in post #9829261
I would like to respectfully point out that I am not the same "Clint" as is in another thread currently going on this forum

LMAO......