first portrait with new flash

[FranDaMan]

I recently bought a 430EXII to go with my Canon 550D
This is a first portrait shot with the flash.
No modifiers yet, so I bounced it away from the model of a ceiling to get soft stray light.


118.jpg by Francis de Beus, on Flickr

Camera Canon EOS 550D
Exposure 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 85 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

Any comments welcome on the lighting.
Next time I think I should use a reflector on the right side of the model to get rid of the slight shadowing around the nose.

[BigFuzzy]

Actually, I feel you did quite well with the lighting. Unlike you I'm not really bothered by the shadows.

I won't say anything else since you only asked about the lighting..

Do you live in NL/Den Haag? Picked up on that from your flickr.

[FranDaMan]

I do live in the Netherlands, but not in Den Haag.
I live in the east,

And if people wanna comment on other flaws, be my guest. I am here to learn, not to be patted on the back

[sk66]

Best guess is you pointed the flash straight up to bounce off the ceiling. In this case bouncing up to the rt and back would have been better.

Basically, think of where you would place a fill light on a stand (if you had one) and bounce the flash there. In this case I think I would place a softbox at 3/4 frontal upper rt.

[FranDaMan]

Originally Posted by sk66

Best guess is you pointed the flash straight up to bounce off the ceiling. In this case bouncing up to the rt and back would have been better.

It said in my opening post I bounced it backwards. It was bounced backwards in a 45dgr angle.

Hopefully soon I will get a stand with a decent umbrella. Then the fun really starts

[sk66]

"so I bounced it away from the model of a ceiling"...sorry, that wasn't very clear to me.
Looking at the highlights etc it doesn't look like any of the lighting was coming from behind you...

So I went to Flickr and looked at the Exif (the relevant exif should be included with your post here), it says the flash was off and did not fire? Based upon the SS etc I'm guessing it really didn't or wasn't necessary so any fill added was minimal.

[FranDaMan]

The flash did fire. It was of camera though with the Cactus V5 Triggers. They don't show up on the EXIF.

The fill did a great job. I also took a shot without the flash and it turned up almost black.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by FranDaMan

The flash did fire. It was of camera though with the Cactus V5 Triggers. They don't show up on the EXIF.

The fill did a great job. I also took a shot without the flash and it turned up almost black.

Why don't you tell us all of that at the beginning (and include the Exif)?

With the additional information I guess this is almost all flash illumination and not bounced fill flash. I'd say it's a pretty good example of "short lighting". If that was the intent, maybe tone the flash down a touch and move the model closer to the bounce surface. I'd also use a card very close to throw stronger catchlight into the near eye (and help soften the shadows but not totally eliminate them).

Why such a long SS? To bring up the BG? Is she in front of a window? I would try to use that as back/rim lighting. I'd either pull the main curtains and use the diffused window as the (blown out) BG or move it off to the side out of scene. Either would requiring reducing flash output to a more equal balance w/ the window light and quite possibly a longer SS.

[EOBeav]

Originally Posted by FranDaMan

I am here to learn, not to be patted on the back

That's the best attitude you can have as a photographer.

[Big Nick]

Shadows add depth and makes lighting look more natural. I think this is a very nice shot, I think you could bring the exposure up a bit thou. Also if you lit the front of the face it would hide the shadow in the back and you wouldnt notice it as much if your worried about it.