First shoot using speedlites

[Josh094]

I was lucky enough to have a good friend of mine give up her time to model for me as I learned my way around my new speedlites and related equipment.

All the shots were taken with either one or two speedlites, i was with my friend for about six hours so I honestly can't remember the exact set-up in all the photos but i'll do my best to recall if people are interested.

The main aim of the shoot was to help me learn how to use the speedlites for lighting a model, I'd appreciate some feedback on the pictures specifically relating to the lighting.

*UPDATE* I've uploaded higher res files to replace the really low quality facebook images I had before.

 

[sunnyside_up]

Nice images, I especially like the second and last one. It could be me and my monitor, but they look a bit soft? But having said that, I keep looking back at them and it sorta seems to work...

 

[Josh094]

The last shot has a shallow depth of field at about f2.8 but the others should all be fairly crisp throughout. It might be because they are pretty low-res copies uploaded via facebook. I'll see about getting higher res ones available.

 

[hoochy1]

love number 2 its got that old film star type of look about it it just draws you to her eyes

 

[Phil V]

The lighting is lovely and fresh, they're a great 1st attempt, but the B&W conversions are woefull, they look like a 90's desaturation. I'll bet with a proper B&W conversion they'd be fab.

 

[Danzaroonie]

very nice...I also prefer the B&W's and I like the soft look...sometimes going a little soft is more appealing to the eye for me when its portrait shots to soften the skin.

I assume these are bare lights flashes..?

 

[purenvdesign]

2 for me.

 

[Josh094]

very nice...I also prefer the B&W's and I like the soft look...sometimes going a little soft is more appealing to the eye for me when its portrait shots to soften the skin.

I assume these are bare lights flashes..?

If I recall correctly only shot number 2 is a bare flash, the others all used either a single shoot-through umbrella on the subject in combination with a bare flash bouncing off of a wall or two shoot-through umbrellas.

 

[Josh094]

The lighting is lovely and fresh, they're a great 1st attempt, but the B&W conversions are woefull, they look like a 90's desaturation. I'll bet with a proper B&W conversion they'd be fab.

Yeah these aren't strictly b&w conversions. They are gradient maps dialled so that the both the blacks and whites aren't perfect colours.

 

[Phil V]

Yeah these aren't strictly b&w conversions. They are gradient maps dialled so that the both the blacks and whites aren't perfect colours.

Well then I'd have to say it needs some work, they're not appealing. I find that duo tone rarely appeals on portraits when I've tried it, but the actions I used were a little crisper than these, they're a bit on the muddy side.

 

[Josh094]

Well then I'd have to say it needs some work, they're not appealing. I find that duo tone rarely appeals on portraits when I've tried it, but the actions I used were a little crisper than these, they're a bit on the muddy side.

What sort of black and white conversion would you suggest? Converting it back in lightroom or using the black and white adjustment in photoshop? Or are there other ways? I'm always up for trying new approaches

 

[abdoujaparov]

The second one looks like it could be the cover of a late 80s/early 90s indie pop album. (That's a compliment, if it's not immediately obvious)

 

[Phil V]

What sort of black and white conversion would you suggest? Converting it back in lightroom or using the black and white adjustment in photoshop? Or are there other ways? I'm always up for trying new approaches

Generally I use the lab color method. With a B&W image (even w duo tone) the black should hit the LH of the histogram and the white the rh side.

IMO bad B&W are all around the grey, maybe the B&W conversions were muddy before the duo tone was added?

 

[Josh094]

Here they are using the lab method.

 

[Tugster]

I prefer the look of the first B&W image but the big black shadow was off putting. The second one softens the shadow and is less of a distraction. Now saying that, I like both conversions as they have a totally different feel to them.