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RE: [OM] [OT] Initial thoughts on the Nikon 4000 and related topics -

Subject: RE: [OM] [OT] Initial thoughts on the Nikon 4000 and related topics - LONG
From: "Olaf Greve" <o.greve@xxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 10:02:50 +0200
Hi Tom,

I haven't followed this thread completely, so some of the stuff I'm about to
write may (and probably will) already have been said. Note one thing please,
I read that you were experimenting. I have done the same and will give you
some of my points of view based on my findings and your pictures. Please
note that these words are meant constructively :) :

> Nothing special.  Two T32s aimed at the ceiling.  Let the OM-4T do the
work,
> no exposure compensation. Fuji 100.

O.k., first off, I think the results are not that bad at all, but I also
think there are some points of improvement. When looking at just two
pictures (t93-13.htm and t93-15.htm) I directly notice that the light coming
from the right hand side is stronger than the light coming from the left
hand side (no problem in itself, but perhaps trickier to get right). What
were the angles the bounced light roughly reflected at at your daughters?
The weird thing is that _the result_ almost seems as if the T32s weren't
bounced at all and that just a single flash was used to flash directly from
the right on the subject, with perhaps a small reflector on the left hand
side... Either way, I personally think the shadows in the right hand side of
the picture are too heavy, somehow the light was not diffuse enough (and/or
not bounced around enough by reflectors on the left hand side) to eliminate
these shadows, and they are somewhat disturbing around the noses of your
daughters... Another small point of critique is the backdrop, the wrinkles
in the cloth can be seen.

> but the kids themselves came out ok.  That's about the right skin tone for
both of them.

I thought so too, and to give some feedback on a statement you make a bit
further in this message:

> Even bounced, the T32s were too powerful.  I'll try again with T20s.

I personally don't see the problem with the T32s power when used in TTL
mode, the camera will cut it off when it thinks it has had enough light for
a proper exposure. If you think the light is too strong, it may be better to
set the flashes to manual (which is perhaps a bit trickier at first), so you
can more easily control the light that's output by them. Personally, though,
I don't really think the flashes output _too much_ light, but rather that
the light output by them was _not diffuse_ enough, also when looking at
t93-14.htm I think this is what really is happening. Too me the light seems
a bit too harsh and too cold, the coldness is less noticeable in t93-15.htm,
which will undoubtedly be caused by the difference in the skin colour. In
short, using T20s may not alleviate the problem, but using more diffuse
light and some reflectors will.

> I'm experimenting with what the heck portrait photography is all about.
My
> goal is to let the camera do its job, so TTL OTF.  Are there better ways?
> Sure, but this is how I want to do it.

Well, the way to fully control everything a la the great work done by people
such as Dave, is to use manual flash. Nonetheless don't worry, I too go the
TTL path for my studio shots. I too have encountered some of the issues that
I notice in your pictures, so here are some points of improvement that I
find work really well:
1-Instead of bouncing the T32s, fire them into a white umbrella and let that
(lovely diffuse) light fall directly on your subject.
2-Try a standard 45 degree flash-subject-camera angle set-up, with one flash
on the left and the other to the right of the camera.
3-Use reflectors on both sides of the subject to make the light from both
flashes bounce around more; use white reflectors for neutral colour or
golden ones for a warm tone (you can use an 81A/B/C warming filter too, if
so desired). I always use white ones. Stay away from the silver ones, as
they will make the light look colder, and that doesn't seem to be required
for your daughters; I'd stick with white reflectors at first.
4-Use a shallower DOF by setting the lens you use to something like f2.8-f4
and get a bit more distance between your daughters and then background, this
will eliminate the wrinkles in the cloth by rendering them out of focus.

Good, I hope these suggestions will help you to improve the shadow and flash
light control, and I hope to see more results from you soon. At present I
don't have really good sample shots on line of my studio results, but there
are two of them at http://www.millennics.com/olympus/gioka/ . I too would
love to hear some comments about them, I have more shots from this session
and in the actual slides at least I think the results look pretty o.k. (at
least it worked out the way I wanted it), the backdrop I used was a white
cloth and it too had some wrinkles, but by not stopping the lens down too
much (note these shots were taken with the 100/2, so any wrinkle would have
remorselessly been revealed) the wrinkles don't show up...

Cheers!
Olafo


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