Open Eyes

[A Team]

Today, I took some indoor portraits of a friend’s four-year old daughter, Molly. In half of the photos, Molly's eyes were shut or were droopy looking. I am not sure what I need to do to eliminate this issue, and am hoping I can get some help here on DPS.

Here is my set up:

Nikon D80
50mm 1.8
Off camera flash using:
SB800 diffused with white (everyday) umbrella
SB600 diffused with white (everyday) umbrella

Flashes are set to TTL
The built in flash is set to – (off), except it still sends a pre-flash signal to control the remote units.

The ISO was set 200 most of the time.
Shutter ranged from 60 – 125
F stop was 4.5 or lower.

Thanks!

Linda

[Benji]

Well Linda, welcome to the wonderful world of imperfect subjects! Some people have the natural ability to blink when the shutter fires, especially if there is an associated flash with it. You may also catch them with their eyes half closed because they were in the middle of a blink. The average person blinks between 10 and 30 times per minute, but under stress (like when being photographed) they may blink even more. When I recognize I have a blinker I shoot two or three times the normal amount to make up for it. Telling the subject they are blinking will only make it worse as they will then give you the wide eye look making them look something akin to Marty Feldman http://himg2.huanqiu.com/attachment/...12b1b3d681.jpg

Benji

[ARKreations]

I've encountered this before.
The pre-flash used to trigger the remotes fires just early enough to "blind" your subject and cause them to blink. Consider picking up one of these.

Alternatively depending on where your strobes are located, you can use your hand to shield the on-camera flash from firing directly at your subject.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by krossk

I've encountered this before.
The pre-flash used to trigger the remotes fires just early enough to "blind" your subject and cause them to blink. Consider picking up one of these.

Alternatively depending on where your strobes are located, you can use your hand to shield the on-camera flash from firing directly at your subject.

This is the problem. The TLL metering of the flashes requires a preflash which, with certain individuals, can cause a blink. What youre getting is the eyes half-open on either the close or the open of the blink, depending on the subject's reflexes.

I've shot a few athletes: they're notorious for it.

The best solution is to shoot manual: there's no pre-flash, but it takes alot of fiddling to get it right.

[A Team]

Thanks for the tips.

@ Krossk - I will definately pick one of these up or try to sheild with my hand. The pre-flash was definately the culprit for some of the shots.

I was also wondering if the distance of the flash to the person had an imact as well.

My other thought was if I have my speedlights set to TTL, and I am using an umbrella, is it reading the distance incorrectly, and giving me a slower flash output, resulting in droopy eyes?

@Osmosis Studios - Are you talking about using the flash on manual? Would I still need to use the pre-flash?

Linda

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by A Team

@Osmosis Studios - Are you talking about using the flash on manual? Would I still need to use the pre-flash?

Linda

Exactly. You dont get a preflash because youre setting the flash power manually: its not having to send a preflash to test the light.

[A Team]

@Osmosis Studio - Thank you so much. Looks like it is time to get to know my flashes and instruction book a little better.