Butterfly Face

[McGregNi]

It was hard to resist trying my best to capture this .... proud girl just home after a Fair and Face Painting

Pentax K7, D FA28-105mm, Pentax AF-540FGZII, (on-camera flash, bounced into the near wall, with 'Flag Type' diffusser), M Camera Mode (1/20th - F8 - ISO200), P-TTL Flash Mode (+2.0 Flash Compensation) ....

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Thanks for taking a peek ... Nigel

[Derek897]

And here I thought, finally, Nigel has tried bug macro

But no,
It's even better.
Savage lighting on this. Fabulous, love it.
Well composed, great model, well lit and the light falloff is bang on for me.
Good shooting.

[McGregNi]

Thanks Derek .... It does show the advantages of the bounced flash and 'flag' approach. The result is more like off-camera diffussed flash, not at all what we normally associate with on-camera flash. Certainly in these sorts of informal, sometimes cramped situations in houses, then the technique is far more rapid and practical than all the um umbrellas and softboxes and stuff.

[LennyBloke]

You've developed an excellent flash technique Nigel (although you couldn't really fail with such a cute smile from your daughter) - but do you ever do side by sides? One with flash, one with natural light - to explore how similar but different daylight can be when used effectively.

[McGregNi]

I've not done 'side by sides', no, but it would make an interesting comparison. I do wonder if it could ever be equal or representative of the real world we find ourselves in though ..... I presume that each approach would depend on the situation. For example, I use flash mainly because of the control it gives me, both over the shape and 'quality' as well as the contrast and intensity. This I find is often needed when it is not possible to find complementary natural lighting (eg the subjects won't move to where is needed, the sun is too bright, there's no window on the side thats needed, there are distractions and clutter in the way if you used the natural light from the direction it is available from, etc).

Equally there are times when flash won't work either .... eg you forgot to take any flashes (!), batteries are drained (!), too much faffing around to set up (but thats the great thing with the on-camera bounced flagged flash ..... I took this shot here in a series of 5 or 6, over a 1 -2 minute period .... the exposure took only 1 test shot to get right, and the flag / flash bounce angle was good after the 2nd try also .... so it was a very quick and responsive way to shoot .... had to be because she was fidgety after arriving home and didn't want to stand for long).

I guess good natural light portraits would require plenty of experience and thought to set up well also ....

Philip (MrB) made the suggestion over at PU that I should get rid of the sunshine distractions on the background .... so I did some levels layer work to remove them .... thanks Philip, it was a good idea and I feel improves the photo

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