Sunset Portrait

[scootermcq]

I quite often get feedback that I have used too much light on these sort of shots making the subject too bright for the environment.

I used a single SB900 off camera held at arms length fired with commander mode as I did not have any gear with me. I saw the sky and wanted to have a go at it, even though I was not equipped to do a portrait.

Questions:
1. Does the subject seem to dark to you or does it work with the background?
2. Being a bare speedlight, do you find the lighting too harsh (i.e. nose shadow)?


Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 48 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV

[Doug Sundseth]

It's too dark for my taste -- not enough separation of subject from background. (I might not be the right audience for this style, though.)

If you want to keep that general subject lighting level, I think I'd try a rim light for better separation.

The light's a little hard, but that's not too much of a problem when lighting from the direction you chose. But that direction resulted in light that's pretty flat. Again, this might be a clashing styles thing, but I prefer more tonal variation in faces to reveal shapes, so I prefer a key light that's farther to some side of the subject. If the key were pulled farther to camera left, I think that the light might be too hard.

HTH