Madelene, two speedlites and a bright mid day sun

Did a another shoot today with my good friend Madelene. She's cool and lets me practice on her every now and then. This was my first proper shoot out doors with speedlites.

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I like the 3rd one the best. These are really good for mid day sun shooting. Would you share your setup?

I love the first one! I may have to experiment with my speedlite. You said that you had more that one?

Nice first try with the speedlites! I love the poses. However, I really think you should consider using a narrower depth of field on shots 1 and 4. A good background blur would really set the model off better. In your last shot the sky seems too blow. Now that you have the speedlites you have an opportunity to deal with this by overpowering the background. Take an AP shot of the sky, switch to the manual mode using those settings, take an shot of the sky, make adjustments to your liking, then move the model in and use your speedlites in the manual mode to properly expose her. I think you will be pleasantly suprised. There are many better experienced photographers on the forum that have a ton more experience the me that would be happy to chime as well. The main thing to remember is that you did a great job of experimenting and the posing was terrific. Good job!

Thanks for you comments.

majs: ISO 100, f8–14, 1/200.
I used two speedlites, a 580EX II shot through an umberella and bare 430 EX II triggered by Cactus V4. I think they were between 1/2 or so and full power.
#1: Umbrella camera left/above and a bare speedlite camera right next to the model
#2 and #3: Umbrella camera left.
#4: Umbrella camera right in front of the model
#5: Umbrella camera right and above. (1/100)

georgebowman: There is no way I could get a narrower depth of field in those shots while using speedlites in full mid day sun light. Sync speed is 1/200 so I'm up to f14 in some of these shots to keep the ambient/background where I want it. I always shoot fully manual when using OCF.

Actually it IS possible to shoot broad daylight with a lower aperature and using flashes. There is a glorious option on the speedlights...its that little lightning bolt. That is HSS (high speed sync). Your limiting flash (at 1/200) is set in normal mode to only fire once when the curtain is all the way open. In high speed sync mode, the flash fires twice. Once when the curtain opens and again when it closes. This will allow you to shoot with flash, low f-stop and darken/blur the background while keeping the subject lit and in focus. Mind you the distance of the flash and flash power (obviously) have an affect. Go manual mode, try it out and see what happens. There is a spectacular tutorial somewhere on here on the subject, but alas I'm on my phone at lunch lol. Hope that helps!

EDIT: Found it. Save this video!! Here is the link It may start off a little slow, but don't be fooled. This guy is GOOD and teaches well.

JackFlash19 wrote in post #10002278
Actually it IS possible to shoot broad daylight with a lower aperature and using flashes. There is a glorious option on the speedlights...its that little lightning bolt. That is HSS (high speed sync). Your limiting flash (at 1/200) is set in normal mode to only fire once when the curtain is all the way open. In high speed sync mode, the flash fires twice. Once when the curtain opens and again when it closes. This will allow you to shoot with flash, low f-stop and darken/blur the background while keeping the subject lit and in focus. Mind you the distance of the flash and flash power (obviously) have an affect. Go manual mode, try it out and see what happens. There is a spectacular tutorial somewhere on here on the subject, but alas I'm on my phone at lunch lol. Hope that helps!

EDIT: Found it. Save this video!! Here is the link It may start off a little slow, but don't be fooled. This guy is GOOD and teaches well.

Thanks for the link! Yeah that works if I sacrifice one of my flashes and use it as as master mounted on the camera. Impossible when using the Cactus triggers though.

Thanks for the details on you set up. I understand now. I have 3-580EXii's and I use one on-camera (master-no flash) to fire the other 2 and I do use the high speed sync. I need to spring for a good set of radio triggers that will allow me to keep those capabilities. I haven't done the research in detail but I believe the forum folks have told me the Pocket Wizards are capable. Sorry....got of the topic here. Again, I sure understand your exposure situation. Sorry to second-guess you. My comments were intended as constructive only. Keep up the good work!

I like these alot. Your lighting is really well thought out and nice. The 2nd and 3rd aren't as well done as the others. But overall in bright sun you should be proud.

JackFlash19 wrote in post #10002278
Actually it IS possible to shoot broad daylight with a lower aperature and using flashes. There is a glorious option on the speedlights...its that little lightning bolt. That is HSS (high speed sync). Your limiting flash (at 1/200) is set in normal mode to only fire once when the curtain is all the way open. In high speed sync mode, the flash fires twice. Once when the curtain opens and again when it closes. This will allow you to shoot with flash, low f-stop and darken/blur the background while keeping the subject lit and in focus. Mind you the distance of the flash and flash power (obviously) have an affect. Go manual mode, try it out and see what happens. There is a spectacular tutorial somewhere on here on the subject, but alas I'm on my phone at lunch lol. Hope that helps!

EDIT: Found it. Save this video!! Here is the link It may start off a little slow, but don't be fooled. This guy is GOOD and teaches well.

HSS doesnt work with the radio triggers the OP was using.

Grendizer wrote in post #10005690
Thanks for the link! Yeah that works if I sacrifice one of my flashes and use it as as master mounted on the camera. Impossible when using the Cactus triggers though.

Well played sir lol. You can tell I don't use cactus triggers