Slow Sync Flash Attempt

[mwatson]

Camera Pentax K10D
Exposure 3
Aperture f/4.5
Focal Length 30 mm
ISO Speed 100


This is a photo of a friend's son. We were sitting outside by a fire pit and I thought this would make a cool photo for him. I went in with the idea of a slow sync flash, even though I have never experimented with it. I am not totally sure I succeeded.

We live in a small townhome with a fenced in patio so no matter which angle I put him, I was going to get the fence. I am not happy with the way it looks but what can I do? There are two more at Flickr: PhotoWats' Photostream this is my favorite.

I gave these to his mom and she absolutely loved them and wants to make one of them larger for his room. I told her to hold off on it until I could make few other changes.

My questions are...
Is this photo too flat?
Did I succeed in a slow sync flash?
Does this photo justify another attempt at another location without a fence?
And any other critiques all can toss me would be appreciated.

As always, thanks for the help

-Matthew-

[sk66]

I don't think it "quite" worked. Was it also set to rear curtain? It looks like it was front curtain because the blur is obscuring the sharper exposure.
I think that's probably the issue. If not then the flash exposure should be hotter to better define/freeze the subject/motion at that point. (and maybe a bit hotter even if the camera was on rear curtain sync)

[mwatson]

It was a front curtain and I did bring the flash down one stop. I opened up my aperture because I wanted to blur the fence and when I did that, he was blown out (and I didn’t even get the blurred fence. I supposed he was too close to it).

So, is your suggestion to try a rear curtain sync? This would give me the blur I wanted from the photo and then stop him where he is on top of the blur?