[JMI]

Two more weeks of shooting with the K10D and the 540FGZ and I'm having a great time with it! Battery life is great, in three total weeks of shooting, I haven't charged the batteries yet! (I'm using the battery grip).

But still the files are great. I've now made some poster sized prints from the shoots and they look great!

Some of these are shot with the flash right on the camera, so are shot using the 3' Pentax TTL cord and hot shoe adapter. I liked using the off shoe cord because I could hold the flash in my left hand and the camera in my right. It allowed me to put the flash where I wanted it and shoot the camera from some different angles. The only really problem that I had with it, is after a few drinks I didn't feel so secure about holding the K10D body, 16-45mm Lens and battery grip in one hand...haha.

Here are some shots;

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Last edited by JMI; 09-23-2007 at 10:26 AM.

[Jamshid]

Wow looks like you've been having quality time with those cute babes. Great series, thanks for sharing.

[m8o]

ya can't help but love the attitude of that sweet heart with the cleft chin.

[Duh_Vinci]

Look great! What kind of post processing have you done? Finish looks very very smooth...

Regards,
D

[JMI]

Look great! What kind of post processing have you done? Finish looks very very smooth...

Regards,
D

I shoot RAW, make adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw for CS2, output a 16bit tiff to a folder that is processed. Then I batch process them in CS2. The batch is color tweak, and adjustment layer for contrast, a skin smoothing layer, and a resize save to web. For the 62 photos that I processed on Friday from Thursday nights shoot, it took my home computer about an hour to run the batch.

[mopar_man]

That must be a tough gig with all those ladies around. I have to agree with DV, very nice processing.

[song_hm]

I shoot RAW, make adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw for CS2, output a 16bit tiff to a folder that is processed. Then I batch process them in CS2. The batch is color tweak, and adjustment layer for contrast, a skin smoothing layer, and a resize save to web. For the 62 photos that I processed on Friday from Thursday nights shoot, it took my home computer about an hour to run the batch.

Very nice series. How about posting ISO/speed/aperture under each pics please?

[sharpshoota]

Did you fire the flash directly at them or bounced off ceiling? Any diffusion or bare bulb? Thanks.

[JMI]

Very nice series. How about posting ISO/speed/aperture under each pics please?

I'll make it easy for you. ISO200, F5.6, and I drag the shutter between 1/15th and 2 seconds. Gotta love that SR!

[JMI]

Did you fire the flash directly at them or bounced off ceiling? Any diffusion or bare bulb? Thanks.

Some are bounced some are direct. The ceiling is some white and some black, so when I'm in an area where it's black (like behind the bar) I switch to direct.

When I'm bouncing I use the built in bounce card, otherwise nothing at all.

[JMI]

That must be a tough gig with all those ladies around. I have to agree with DV, very nice processing.

Haha. The best part is that they really seem to love the camera!

[blwnhr]

Astounding. Simply astounding. I have a great appreciation for good portraiture. Beautiful composition and timing.

I was wondering if you could perhaps get some shots of your setup and some tips of camera settings? I really need to learn to take good flash photos. I have some good gear (K10D and Sigma 500-Super flash) but am a bit lost for settings and setting the rig up.

What mode do you use? Tv, Av, Program? Flash exposure compensation? Is it all P-TTL (ie. let the caMera sort it out)? Diffusers?

I have tried and tried to get good flash photos and it's always hit and miss, and 90% miss. If you could provide that information I would be forever endebted!

[JMI]

Astounding. Simply astounding. I have a great appreciation for good portraiture. Beautiful composition and timing.

I was wondering if you could perhaps get some shots of your setup and some tips of camera settings? I really need to learn to take good flash photos. I have some good gear (K10D and Sigma 500-Super flash) but am a bit lost for settings and setting the rig up.

What mode do you use? Tv, Av, Program? Flash exposure compensation? Is it all P-TTL (ie. let the caMera sort it out)? Diffusers?

I have tried and tried to get good flash photos and it's always hit and miss, and 90% miss. If you could provide that information I would be forever endebted!

Thanks very much!

I think the reason I've never had trouble getting good flash photos is that I came from the days of vivitar 285's and manual film camera's. Flash is really easy though. I always want the camera/flash to do as little work/metering as possible. So I set the ISO (usually 200/400ish) Manual mode on the body. Just start with a 5.6 - 1/30th combo and start shooting. When I am shooting flash, the ONLY thing I let the camera do is adjust the flash power. That's how I've always done it.

Check out Strobist. That blog is filled with tons of information about manual flash techniques, but I think it helps learn ttl flash better, once you understand light a little better.

[Tom M]

What makes these stand out is the coloring. In the one picture you can get a glimpse of what's going on. It looks like flames are shooting up from the ashtray in the left hand section of the photo yet you know it's only smoke.

[blwnhr]

Manual mode on the body. Just start with a 5.6 - 1/30th combo and start shooting. When I am shooting flash, the ONLY thing I let the camera do is adjust the flash power. That's how I've always done it.

That's what I've started doing, telling the camera what it should be doing and letting the flash sort itself. Thankyou for your reply it's of great help!