First Shoot with My Cactus Triggers: C&C!

JackRabbit · Feb 21, 2010

Did a shoot with the two of the most amazing and cool people you will ever meet in your entire life. Never a dull moment when they are around. Also, this is the first time that I took my soft box to do a shoot outside AND it was my first shoot with my new Cactus triggers. I've never gotten the chance to do a shoot outside in broad daylight where I was able to incorporate flashes so it was definitely a learning experience.
I'm not expecting critiques on all of them as there are quite a few. More just general tips for improvement if you don't feel like leaving critiques for each individual picture.

1
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2
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Here's one I picked of Hannah for her eyes. Her eyes are that awesome ALL the time. Like, I didn't do anything to alter her eyes. This one was all natural light.

3
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Another of Hannah.

Strobist: Canon 430EZ shot through softbox, subject left (4-5 feet), 1/4 power

4
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We took this one to showcase her new shoes. They are specially made, custom ordered TOMS (*end poncy voice*).

Stobist: Canon 430EZ shot through softbox, subject left (4-5 feet), 1/4 power

5
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Another of Lauren and her cool new shoes.

Strobist: Canon 430EZ, shot through softbox, subject left (4-5 feet), 1/2 power.

6
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Here is one they did together.

Strobist: Canon 430EZ, shot through softbox, subject left, 1/4 power

7
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I liked this one because of how the path looks. It really has that feeling of stretching for forever.

Strobist: Canon 430EZ shot through softbox, subject left, 1/2 power

BONUS
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OK not really a bonus, just ANOTHER picture I took of myself ahaha. On this one, I was real sick and stuck at home and bored so I took this.

Strobist: Canon 430EZ shot through softbox, subject left (2 feet) at 45 degrees in front, 1/8 power

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Paparoksguitar · Feb 21, 2010

the bottom couple (with the exception of your self portrait) look a bit dark to me. I'd also check your White balance on those they look a bit green.

Cool shots. my favorite is the third pic. The posing looked a bit awkward in the first pic IMO and her hand in #6 just throws me off the way its stretched out.

I like them otherwise though. looks like fun. Cool setting too.

Edit: oh yeah self portrait was cool to. The blue shirt brings out your eyes in a very cool way. Nice job.

clbd39 · Feb 21, 2010

I'm seeing a lot of shadows and the faces in general do not seem to be lit up very well

4 and 5 are lit well but 6 is sort of distracting because only one is lit well

your shots are improving though!

JackRabbit · Feb 21, 2010

Yes, now that you pointed it out, I can definitely see that the bottom two are a touch underexposed. I fixed that and took a bit of green out of both. Anyone else?

bahandi · Feb 21, 2010

Do you only have one flash? As mentioned, there are a lot of shadows on the faces. Perhaps if the sun was out, the flash could have been positioned at the subject's right?

JackRabbit · Feb 22, 2010

So overall, they are no good?

JackRabbit · Feb 22, 2010

bahandi said:
Do you only have one flash? As mentioned, there are a lot of shadows on the faces. Perhaps if the sun was out, the flash could have been positioned at the subject's right?

No, I have more than one flash. I only have one softbox though. Also, I try to keep my lighting setups as simple as possible so that I don't have to travel with a lot of stuff because I don't have a car to carry everything in.

bahandi · Feb 22, 2010

Makes sense. If your comment above this one was directed at me, I wouldn't say that they were no good. Reducing the shadows would step up the quality of the pictures, in my opinion.

JackRabbit said:
bahandi said:

Do you only have one flash? As mentioned, there are a lot of shadows on the faces. Perhaps if the sun was out, the flash could have been positioned at the subject's right?

Click to expand...

No, I have more than one flash. I only have one softbox though. Also, I try to keep my lighting setups as simple as possible so that I don't have to travel with a lot of stuff because I don't have a car to carry everything in.

JackRabbit · Feb 22, 2010

I honestly don't see shadows on the faces... I see them in number 1 and number 6 but I don't think that they really detract from the photos too much. At least not in number 1 (I can see how the shadows are a bit strong on the girl standing in number 6). However, overall, I don't think they take away from the picture. I could be wrong because everyone usually thinks their photography is better than it truly is (which is why most people post their pictures up for critiques), so I appreciate the feedback.

Hmmm, where is Derrel and IgsEMT? They always give such good feedback ahaha.