Sat the kid in my little photo tent\box thing, you know the ones used for ebay... not a bad reselt i thought after a bit of messing around getting enough lighting...
opinions please...
Thinking of getting a amature flash kit, about £300 to do some more...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/dazzas-sti/Skye/IMG_0542-01-BW-smaller.jpg

Daz

Sure that's not a self portrait Dazza? :D

Lovely shot, although the light could do with a lot more softening. The pose is a bit rigid too imho, could have been more relaxed?

That's a lovely shot Daz :) Don't let techical considerations get in the way of a great expression, which you've obviously got here. Portraiture is about picturing people, not which flash gun you used.

All I would say is that the main light is coming from below (see highlight in eyes) which is unnatural (eg unlike sunlight) and can be a bit spooky at times. Studio flash will help, but I'd start with one simple soft-box (or shoot-through umbrella) plus reflector and work up from there. Studio lights - simple is best IMHO.

My recipe - one big as poss soft-box just to one side of camera. 3x2ft white card reflector held by helpful assistant to the other side. Maybe add a light for the background and another for a hair-highlight when you're feeling ambitious. You need to know what you're doing for this and have very controllable flash units to play the game though :)

Richard.

PS Just keep shooting as you are. Looks good to me :D

Sure that's not a self portrait Dazza? :D

Lovely shot, although the light could do with a lot more softening. The pose is a bit rigid too imho, could have been more relaxed?

Your right though, looking at it today now you've said that it she does look a little tense although she wasn't, it just looks it as the camera caught it...

That's a lovely shot Daz :) Don't let techical considerations get in the way of a great expression, which you've obviously got here. Portraiture is about picturing people, not which flash gun you used.

All I would say is that the main light is coming from below (see highlight in eyes) which is unnatural (eg unlike sunlight) and can be a bit spooky at times. Studio flash will help, but I'd start with one simple soft-box (or shoot-through umbrella) plus reflector and work up from there. Studio lights - simple is best IMHO.

My recipe - one big as poss soft-box just to one side of camera. 3x2ft white card reflector held by helpful assistant to the other side. Maybe add a light for the background and another for a hair-highlight when you're feeling ambitious. You need to know what you're doing for this and have very controllable flash units to play the game though :)

Richard.

PS Just keep shooting as you are. Looks good to me :D

So what's the best thing to get going with, say a studio light with a softbox and a reflector...:wonder: I'd prefere just to use light as at least you can see what it's going to look like... :)
Your right about the catchlights also they do look a bit odd, its the little details you miss when your doing it... I may PS them out and add them in the top left instead...
good points though...
Just see a 360w natural light kit, i think it uses 3x low energy bulbs by the look of it for £65 is that the kind of thing thats of use...??

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to portraits, but it seems to me as though you are a little too close to the (cute!) subject.

What lens did you use? For a head and shoulders type portrait, I reckon you should be looking at a focal length of about 85mm (on a 1.6 crop camera), otherwise you risk getting unflattering results. :)

I think your righ on that one also, i was too close... i sat the kid in the tent thing on the table in the room and didn't have enough room then to move back...
Mmmm another go is needed... :-)

You can do a lot with very little money and some flash guns if you're willing to experiment. Use a teddy bear or something to suss out the lighting and avoid bored/cranky 'model' syndrome :)

As for softboxes - it's worth trying umbrellas: Cheaper, less space, and don't require speedrings etc. Alternatively, google tinker tubes...