Dee Why & Some Portraits

[Reschsmooth]

Haven't posted many photos lately. Here are some portraits taken at Manly damn - I was trying to get some cross lighting, balancing sunlight and flash. Unfortunately, after we set up the flash and brolly, we only had about 5 mins before Alex let us know he needed attention.

The other shot is a pano from Dee Why taken about 3 weeks ago with some great cloud formation. B&W conversion was via Channel Mixer, with reds pumped and blues dropped.

C&C appreciated

[Geoff]

Hi Patrick,
Nice to see some images from you.
I think the first image is the best out of the three here. Alicia's pose looks comfortable, relaxed and genuine. The catch light in here eyes is beautiful. I would like to see all of her head though, not a huge fan of the cut off, but that's being ultra picky.

The 2nd image I am distracted too much by the reflections on the water (white) top left of the image. The light distribution across Alicia's face is very uneven and looking at the image, the left side of her face is too dark/shadowed. I do like the presence of the pine tree though.

3rd image is great, but I'd like to see even MORE contrast! I think that'd make it look truely spectacular. Thanks for sharing

[Reschsmooth]

Thanks Geoff,

Regarding the reflections off the water, my original intention was to try to set up the SB800 so I could use the high-speed sync, but unfortunately, I was limited to normal synch of 1/250th, and I didn't want to increase the DOF too much, hence the exposure of the background.

I agree with your comments on the shadows in the 2nd - I think I should have moved the brolly/flash to be more front on and closer.

I was concerned about increasing the contrast too much as I felt I would either blow out the main cloud or block up the detail in the right - hence this compromise.

Cheers