Also did this back in the day - and then I saw that there were digital light meters out there, but at a solid price for quality.

Your phone also has a sophisticated light meter built in and a simple app like Pocket Light Meter for iOS (there will be an equivalent for Android but I don't know it) gives a very useful starting point on your phone for what the correct exposure of a scene might be.

Love when you find the things of your youth have not died, just changed a bit ...

Really appreciate your thoughts Thomas.

I think a softbox or beauty dish might be the next item to try - also a large white reflector to bounce off. Getting the money shot in portraiture takes some time huh?

Thanks again for the encouragement.

A true cross over between a photo and a painting - it works really well for me.

After watching *A LOT* of YouTube instructions, got these examples as my attempts at a high key and then low key portraits, using a hairdresser's model head to save a real person's retinas (her name is Patience by the way, for about 1,000 obvious failed reasons).

Used 2 Nissin speed lights on stands with my Fuji XT2 with a wireless controller - on the low key I used HSS at 1/2000 to create the black background (and yep I should get some black velvet ...)

Ignoring the terrible hair (I also have a lot to learn about hairdressing) is it time to move on to real people (or "talent" as I think they are known as) ? Constructive criticism welcome.

High key using speed lights and LED's

(Download)

Low key using HSS with 2 speed lights

(Download)

Thanks Thomas - you have encouraged me to post my first portraiture attempts in this forum on UHH.

If you have a moment I would appreciate any comments from you or others in the group.

Admire the composition - difficult in a pano to keep foreground vegetation (on the RH side) in focus with the mountains - did you use a tripod or pano head?

Very good appreciation of the location to anticipate the shot - well done.

Very impressive images - and from my brief experimenting with low key portraits, kudos also from the amount of time and effort that must have gone into getting those lights right - that really takes some time so much so I have bought a hairdressers model head on ebay to learn on before destroying a real person's retinas.
One tech question - just a black background, or did you use HSS at 1/250th ?

Love the explanatory bib around the neck in #4 - explains everything really !

One quick suggestion that has saved me more than once when travelling.

In a lot of hotel bathrooms they include a one use only shower cap - purloin a couple of those and drop them in your bag or a pocket (yes, wife will complain a bit).

Amazing how effective they are when you need some rain cover - not a long term solution, but has kept my gear dry and working when I had nothing else.

No and the maker Bombich Software say they have no current plans to make one.

Not a Windows user at home, but here is a ranked list of what are said to be comparable Windows alternatives - long time since I had a PC here, but back in the day Acronis True Image seemed to be the go, but have no up to date experience - others here will have more up to date info.

https://alternativeto.net/software/carbon-copy-cloner/?platform=windows

Great work - just curious, how many images to make up the whole?

+1 for Sirui - carbon fibre is light and usable in salt water and all weathers - also some models have one leg removable to make up a light but string monopod - leave my heavy old aluminium Manfrotto at home to support a telescope.

Other suggestion is to add an Arca Swiss type quick release to the ball head - just makes it easier quicker and if used correctly more secure.

Yes - a full system restore takes a couple of hours using CCC - apple's TM takes a couple of days - I have done both and TM is badly in need of a re-write.

Also CCC much more customisable for different types of backups and different schedules - sometimes you want manual, sometimes automatic. Ask the users of both how they feel...

+1 for Carbon Copy Cloner - not just for your photos, but for everything else on your mac and making an image of your operating system - saved my sanity on 2 occasions.

On my MacBook Pro less than 3 months old the 256G SDD failed - probably due to a surge or spark - with USB3 devices with a constant voltage across the input ejecting before removing is a really good idea.

Apple replaced the SDD under warranty and CCC had the new drive up to where it was the night before the automated backup last ran.

Other versions of NAS devices are also relatively inexpensive and give you a private fee free cloud which I like - I used a pair of Synology NAS on which I keep an extensive movie collection now about 7TB.

But do use good backup software like CCC - when you need it, you really need it.