Paul .. that’s how I preferred the composition to these simple portraits at the time.

On the subject of framing .. how would you have framed them differently?
Mechanically constrained by the Rule of Thirds?

Neil vN

Hi there ..

Where I used flash, it was just the single light through a double-baffled softbox. It does bring down the exposure .. but the Q-flash (with the diffuser disc) has a tiny bit more power than a speedlight, so that does help. And then I can always pop the Q-flash’s diffuser disc off for more power.

Neil vN

As TomK says up top, using the videos is a great tool to reinforce your blog posts.

Where you using just one light in these shoots?

Oh and does that softbox also have an internal diffuser? I’ve recently bought the Lastolite Ezybox which comes with two and really knocks the flash output down.

Hi there Jason ..

The images of Sasha that is so heavily backlit was with the available light only. Also the photo of her where I used the decrepit van in the background, was also just available light.

In both those instances, the light falling onto her face was soft and even, and I didn’t need to use flash. Nor did I want to balance my foreground exposure with the background.

And yes, it is the Medium Photoflex softbox, (B&H), that I used here.

Neil vN

This is great – thank you. I pre ordered your book months am looking forward to getting my hands on it.

In the last session with Sasha where you have the sun setting in the background – did you use any flash or is that just available light.

Is that the Medium Photoflex softbox in the first shoot that you mentioned in a recent post.

Cheers

Hi there Ron ..

I will post some of the images (and a few others) over time, with more of an explanation. I always feel that just the settings alone doesn’t impart that much information .. as opposed to an explanation of the method and thought-process.

I’m nearly always in manual exposure mode on my camera .. and when I work with flash it *has* to be in manual mode on my camera, especially when the flash is manual.

As for the sync cord you saw, it is part of the Quantum wireless system, as explained in a previous post on the portable lighting set-up I took with me when I photographed a wedding in Las Vegas. (It’s seen here in this photo on the Canon 1D mk3.)

Neil vN

However, would like to know the following
f-stop, shutter speed, and were you on manual or aperture preferred mode.

Do you ever use program mode?

Last but of great interest -
you were wirelessly setting off the light box, but what was that sync cord I saw briefly in the video? Was your transmitter not positioned in the hot shoe of your camera??

PS – thanks for the fast reply re my SB-900 question.
I’m going crazy how I am missing an SB-8000. Dammit, 2 in 2 years.

Happy 4th of July

Justin .. I use my lens hoods as storage space for strips of gaffer tape, and for pieces of gel for my flash.

I didn’t use the gels on this shoot, but they are always handy to keep around.

Neil vN