Pentax-K10D Loc: Denver, Co

Here's three first speed light portraits I took of my wife a couple of nights ago. I normally use my big strobes, umbrellas, & soft boxes. Wife just got here hair done so I said lets get a couple of shots. Here they are & ready to be critique. The rose & old house are a couple I did a while back. Thanks

My Lovely Wife


Wife -2


Wife - 3


Yellow Rose


Old abandon House

DRON Loc: CHICAGO

Great portraits! What is speed light?

blueeyes3515 Loc: WV

They are all great photos! Nicely done!!!!!!!!!

Pentax-K10D Loc: Denver, Co

A speed light is just using a manual hot shoe flash off camera. I used three for these. One camera righ for main light with small softbox, one behind her right side for hair light, & one left front fir fill. I use a three nikon sb-28 speedlights. That's it. Thanks for the complement.

Pentax-K10D Loc: Denver, Co

Thank you. Appreciate the complement.

Buddiesss Loc: So Dartmouth,Ma

Great job and it helps to have a great subject. my wife is not crazy about me photographing her, she's my 73 old sweetheart too. Keep up the great work

Pentax-K10D Loc: Denver, Co

Well they half to be bribed you know that. I have to buy at least a dozen dinners for one short session. Lol. Thanks for looking & the complement. Have a great evening.

mdhatt

Hey there you are again!! Nice job!! Really lovely wife and I know she tries to help you with your color (which I actually like the way you do it!!) Love the cabin the best! It has your signature lighting and ambiance!

Pentax-K10D Loc: Denver, Co

Thank you MDHATT. Haven't had much time to get out & do anything since it's turning winter here. Have some to put up when I get time to work on them. Six days on the road don't leave much tome for anything. Lol. Bookmark me & it will be easy to find me. Thanks for the complement & have a great evening.

blueeyes3515 Loc: WV

I LOVE old abandoned house!! I am a fan of old houses and buildings. This one is awesome.
Your photos of your wife are beautiful (as is she) and I love your lighting technique!!

Pentax-K10D Loc: Denver, Co

Thank you Blueeyes, appreciate the complement. Here in Colorado you can find a lot of these old abandon house's & old mines. Just being there with the right light is always the problem. Lol. Have a great day.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

Finally someone else taking the time to move there flash off camera.
Nice addition of the hair light. Lighting looks well placed. Did you use any type of diffuseres on any of the lights?

Good depth added by the shadows

Some one argue you overcooked in post.
What's important though is if she liked it.

Russ

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

I like the house a lot!!

Well done on all!

anotherview Loc: California

Obviously, you have good studio lighting skills, and here a very photogenic model to work with.

Let me offer a brief critique of the first image. The two bright areas to the right of her lips distract. They should have the same shadow tonality as the nearby areas.

The neck area has unflattering shadows, needing more fill light to reduce the contrast there (same for each portrait).

In the background, the greenish elements distract.

Meanwhile, I look forward to your future offerings using off-camera flash units. If you show your lighting setups (in a sketch or a photo), you will help budding studio shutterbugs like myself.

Welcome to this forum, and Happy Holidays!

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

good photo portrait shots of your wife. A couple of things you might want to try differently to improve slightly. First, a reflector to bounce light to the right side of her face to help eliminate the harsh shadow lines on her face and another reflector in front to bounce light up and focused at her neckline to eliminate unwanted shadows. A properly placed reflector will help eliminate harsh shadows that can make wrinkles appear more dramatic than they really are. A reflector will soften the shadows and make any wrinkles less prominent. Lastly, a hair light, also known as a back light to make her head stand out from the background, giving your lovely wife more definition and a more prominent appearance in the photo. A good back light doesn't need to be too bright, it only needs to help bring separation of your main subject from the background.

Your third photo of your wife is the best one. It shows nice soft shadows and better detail in her facial features, however a back light will bring her out of the background a little bit better.

For your first speed light shots, these are actually very, very good efforts. I hope you won't take my critique personally. I'm only basing my input based on my personal experience and understanding of photography and offering suggestions to help you to improve. You are definitely on the right track with learning how to use your speed light setup. Thank you for sharing. Your 4th photo of the flower shows excellent composition and lighting. I wouldn't change a thing. The house looks like an "HDR" photo and a bit artificial to me... I'm all or natural photos with only minimal enhancements to bring out the best details, but that's me. Great shots, thank you again!

Here is a shot of a former colleague and a good friend, his name is Glenn.

A former colleague & Friend... Glenn