Action Sports Cartel

This is totally new water for me. First time ever shooting a "model" and first time really shooting the strobe on location. This scene was really a filler while we waited for the sun to set but clouds moved in and killed the dusk shot I wanted. She'd never posed and I'd never worked with a model in this way before so the expressions are not ideal. Hopefully she'll be a willing victim again as I try and sort this stuff out.

I seem to be having a tough time sorting out flash power. Shot w/ an AB 800 in a 28" softbox.

got a light meter? really helpful especially in changing light
its difficult to critique pictures of people without knowing what you are trying to make the pictures. are they fashion and selling something, environmental portraits, beauty, head shots for modeling agencies etc? if we know more of where you want to go with the shots its a lot easier to help you see what can be improved upon to get better.

No light meter as of yet. As for what type of image...lol...I'm gonna need to come up with something there huh? I was really going for "good".

well currently they are okay shots of a girl standing in nature, nothing wrong with that, however as with most things we shoot there is 'reason' (ie sports show the culture, skill, nature etc) and for most of the time shooting people its the same, there is often reason behind you taking the pictures.
(don't worry i and many other shooters did this the first time shooting with models)

since it doesn't appear that you are shooting towards fashion, glamour or advertising you could be looking at this as if i were beauty. making her look the best you can.
if you are shooting towards that the lighting works fine (nothing fantastic, nothing bad) and location is great. however in most of the shots she appears very static and wary of the camera. and when shooting a non-model this can be very difficult to do. (remember the last time you stood infront of another photographer's lens? did you feel comfortable and natural?) interacting, talking, and making the model have fun will help a lot in making a photograph which makes her look good.
shooting more of this is probably going to help the most, learning to taylor your actions to the model's personality. some subjects get bored when you fuss with lighting and get impatient, others respect the craft and love seeing the work that goes into it. some subjects you can joke with like a friends, others not so much.

i like the first shot the most, her posing feels more natural. keeping models off flat feet is very important. have them keep a the majority of the weight on one foot and keep the toes pointing in directions 90 degrees to each other (ish)
good work on getting out and trying something new, props

I'll reply more later but you really don't need a light meter, spend your money on something useful.

Anyways, I almost always set my SB-800's on 1/4 power for portrait type shots and move me lightstand forward or backwards a bit as the ambient goes down. That way I don't have to worry about changing power all the time. Works pretty well for the most part. Even on a time crunch I do this, takes a few seconds and you are back to shooting.

she looks tense as fuck in all the photos, you need her to loosen up a bit, everything looks forced to me. I'd say #1 has by far the best composition, and the lighting is pretty good, simple and works.

#2.. uh yeah it's a field.. awkward looking

#3 pretty stoked, again her face looks weird all stressed and forced, but the thing that bugs me most is the white bit at the top, the background isn't doing it for ya here.. in #1 it's working a lot better.

#4 where's the rest of her? looks weird, floating head in a field? I'd suggest cropping just below the shoulders

not bad for a first time out.. takes a while to get the hang of working with chicks.. i have a hell of a time, and it's 10x worse when they're not experienced.

Thanks for the C&C. This was really tough for me. Totally out of my and her comfort zones for sure. She was so uncomfortable it hurt me to watch. The upside is that I learned a ton and she is super cool and is stoked to keep working on the process with me.

Ryan Cathrall wrote:
I'll reply more later but you really don't need a light meter, spend your money on something useful.

a lightmeter is such a useful thing man!
I always use it, even I'm shooting digital!