Great!! Glad you liked it! I mostly used the OnOne Effects Pro plug-in software and then brought it into CS6 for a few touch-ups. I really love the OnOne Suite of and I think they have a version that will work with PSE10, it makes post processing much easier and less stressful!

Here is my attempt.

Jens Fix

Last Saturday I traded in all of my first DSLR gear (Canon) and traded up for the Nikon D7000 with the 18-200mm lens, SB700 flash, Cheetah Q24 Softbox with stand and a 5-1 Reflector. Rather foolishly, my first real photo shoot of people was the next day, having never worked with reflectors or off camera lighting. Fortunately, it was for my cousin's family Christmas card, so that helped with the nerves and somehow, I happened to pull off the group photo and they are thrilled. I took some shots of my cousin's adopted daughter hoping for a possible photo for my portfolio. At about 16, she has perfect skin, so I was really blessed. This photo was taken in manual mode - ISO 250 - f/5.3 - 1/125th shutter speed - Cloudy WB - 90mm focal length and I used Nikon's CLS in i-TTL for the flash exposure (flash was in the 24" softbox and I used the gold/silver reflector for fill). This was taken outside, so her hair is a little windblown. Amazingly, I have not done any skin softening type post processing other than a few very small specs using the Spot Healing tool. I did balance her eyeliner (her left eye had a bit more than the right), reduce the yellows in her teeth a bit and reduce the yellows in the background so she stood out more. That's it for the most part, other than a few minor tweaks (slight crop, stray hairs, etc.).

I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions, since this may be used in my portfolio!

Jen

First Portrait

Thank you very much!! I agree with the crop suggestion 100%. Other than a few stray hairs and spots, the dirt on her toenails and the crop, I think that's about all the post work it needs! Believe it or not, that's about the only photo I've taken that really catches the richness of her fur, so I'm very happy with it!

Jen

Thank you!! So far, I am completely thrilled with the D7000, etc., just an amazing camera!! I posted one pic just straight from the camera from the portrait shoot in this thread and I'm really pleased with it! Fortunately, the family I photographed was my cousin and her family, so that made me so much more comfortable and we are all thrilled with the results. I'll post another update thread with the results when I finish the post processing.

Thanks again!

Jen

Thank you for the compliment, but I feel I have a long way to go... so much to learn with off camera lighting. Very excited to learn more!

Jen

Thank you!

Thank you!!! Off camera lighting is like a whole new world!

Jen

Thank you for the compliment!

Jen

Thank you so much!! It's a 36" 5/1 reflector, and that particular one has the gold/silver mix, which is what gave that almost painting quality you mentioned. I found it to be a challenge using the reflector without assistance, so I highly recommend a reflector/stand combo if you may not have anyone to help. That will definitely be my next purchase!

Jen

Thank you very much for such a nice compliment!!

Jen

Thank you!! She's a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Excellent information and advice! I had used HSS on my Canon camera with the 430 EXII Speedlite mounted on the camera and was just starting to getting consistent results when I made the complete gear change on Saturday to Nikon. With the Canon Speedlite on the camera, I would use it as fill and basically use the sun as my main light. I started using gels on the flash and got really good results using a 1/4 CTO gel on the flash and setting the WB to Cloudy (I'm drawn to warmer tones). I bought kit of gels and practiced with those and found some of your previous posts to other people and your advice to them was very helpful. My previous photo gallery topic, I had posted a photo I took of my dad aiming his high powered pellet gun and was able to get a rich blue sky using HSS, sun and flash gels!

On the "human" portrait in this topic, I was in manual mode, ISO 250, f/5.6, 1/320th, Cloudy WB and at 95mm focal length. You are absolutely correct about practicing because I felt really lost using the 24" softbox and SB700 with a reflector because I couldn't anticipate the results from the choices I was making from lack of experience. So, much of it was trial and error, but I did use my previous experience with the Canon gear as a starting point, so that helped. I didn't have the budget for a fast constant aperature lens when I bought the Nikon set-up, so I went with the D7000 & 18-200mm package. Thinking about maybe adding a nifty fifty, f/1.8 prime lens so that I'll have more options until I can invest in better portrait lenses.

The one thing that surprised me about this new set-up and the soft box was how creamy her skin looks, yet her eyes are sharp. I've heard that's the entire point of using soft boxes, but I never thought that could happen straight out of the camera. She has great skin, so that helped also.

Again, I really appreciate every bit of advice you have given me (and others)! Just a wealth of knowledge and so very helpful!!

Jen

Thank you very much!! She is just gorgeous, so I wanted to try to get a few headshots, possibly for a portfolio pic. She is excellent in front of the camera, so she made it much easier!

Jen

Thank you again!! I've been working on the pics in Photoshop that the family chose for the Christmas card and her eyes are beautiful, but so dark that the catchlights barely showed up. I had read your recommendation while I was working on them and the dodge tool made a huge difference, so thank you for that!! I haven't done any processing on that pic yet, but will definitely apply it as well!

Another great tip on the exposure adjustment. I had gotten into high speed sync and was a little concerned about the SB700 having enough power in the softbox. Nikon's CLS system is so new to me and so is off camera lighting and softboxes, so really wasn't sure how much to push it. If you have any advice regarding a cut-off point using high speed sync with the gear I have, that would be a tremendous help!!

Thank you again for offering your compliments and wonderful suggestions!! I really appreciate it!!

Jen