Studio portraits - playing with new gear

My sister-in-law and I did a little photo shoot in the garage yesterday. I was playing with my new lenses and the new Saturn ring flash. All images were snapped with the K20D.

These first 2 shots used two AF-540's on a dual flash bracket behind a shoot-thru umbrella, triggered by SM Flashwaves.

DA* 16-50mm 2.8


FA 77mm 1.8 Limited @


The ring flash will take some getting used to. I was trying to go for a bit of a high key look. I'm not quite there with the look I'm after. Both ring flash shots were with the 16-50. This web-sized version, doesn't seem to handle the lighter bits very well. The full-size looks much better.

[gawan]

The first photo looks real good! I was waiting for the ring flash photos, and, even if these are a bit too high key to my taste, the shadows the Saturn creates look good!

[rzarbo]

Hi Hamid,

Love the first one. I don't like the last one much but I think it is the pose as much as the lighting. And the middle two, well.......they are not Sofie and Chaya.

Robin

[Ash]

Hamid,
Great work with posing.
First one's a keeper.
Have to agree about the lighting - it's a cool ring flash but the shots using this flash are more burnt out than high key.
Once you get the hang of it, though, it'll be great to see more portraits lit this way.

[hamidlmt]

Originally Posted by gawan

The first photo looks real good! I was waiting for the ring flash photos, and, even if these are a bit too high key to my taste, the shadows the Saturn creates look good!

Yeah.. these ring flash pics are not brilliant. It's more difficult than I thought! Oh well... shoot, shoot and shoot some more!

Originally Posted by rzarbo

Hi Hamid,

Love the first one. I don't like the last one much but I think it is the pose as much as the lighting. And the middle two, well.......they are not Sofie and Chaya.

Robin

LOL... no, they're not Sofie and Chaya... I'm branching out!

Originally Posted by Ash

Hamid,
Great work with posing.
First one's a keeper.
Have to agree about the lighting - it's a cool ring flash but the shots using this flash are more burnt out than high key.
Once you get the hang of it, though, it'll be great to see more portraits lit this way.

Ash.... I guess I'm not really aware of the difference between high key and burnt out ha! I've always felt high key shots just burned out the highlights. Well... off to scour the net for hints!

[hamidlmt]

I've just posted a far more detailed comparison of the Saturn Ring Flash and Ray Flash in another post. Also, another sample shot there too.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/p...ray-flash.html