Help with composotion and flash setup

[kbradley88]

I'm a poor person, so I've got cheap optical slaves on tripods... I can't afford Alien Bees, etc...

Well, I decided to take pics of my daughter, and here's how I took it (And I'm not happy with the results..)

For these pictures I used the Nikon SB600 with the Gary Fong Light Sphere Cloud at 1/16 to fire the optical strobes.....






Is the whole idea to get your subject way in front of the background?


Thanks.

[oldwolf]

Here's my two cents.

You've got the right idea but just need some tweaking to your setup. First get your subject away from the background. Second that hair light isn't going to light up just the hair, it's going to light up everything because it doesn't have a snoot on it. You can make one from duct tape and the cardboard from a cereal box. Third, after getting the subject away from the background turn the power down on one of the lights in front so you get some shadow on her face. The shadows are what defines and forms the face. You can get softer light by flashing through something like a white sheet or even tissue paper.

[sybren]

Perhaps you could post the EXIF information? That way we can give you more direct feedback. I that besides what oldwolf already told you, you should open up your aperture more to get a shallower depth of field.

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

Here's my two cents.

You've got the right idea but just need some tweaking to your setup. First get your subject away from the background. Second that hair light isn't going to light up just the hair, it's going to light up everything because it doesn't have a snoot on it. You can make one from duct tape and the cardboard from a cereal box. Third, after getting the subject away from the background turn the power down on one of the lights in front so you get some shadow on her face. The shadows are what defines and forms the face. You can get softer light by flashing through something like a white sheet or even tissue paper.

If I was going to comment, this is exactly what I would have said. Good call, Oldwolf!