That's what it is!...I was just trying to figure out what it was about your shots. They do tend to look like a composite like so many photographers do these days. But actually doing it on location is way better.
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+1 on Steve's comment - great execution as usual.
Regarding the Photoshopped/composite look, that's pretty much what you're after, isn't it? And if people really think it's Photoshopped you could see it as a positive thing. (The strong subject/background separation provided both by totally different lighting on the model compared to the background and by the actual distance to the background really does make it look a bit like a composite.)
What you could try is a series with a mixture of your "usual setup shots" and some other shots. E.g. if there would have been a couple of shots of her leaning on the sign or sitting on the brick wall among the other shots, no one would question you were there. And maybe that would have increased the wow-factor of your strobe setup shots even more.
When showing people examples of my work on my Nexus 7 tablet, I have a gallery that's nothing but setup shots. Once I show them the "regular" shots, I say something like, "And here's a few examples of how those images were created..."
It usually isn't until they see the setup shots that they release that I'm pretty serious about what I do. :-)
I think you've misunderstood cls, or I have!
I think when he says your "usual setup shots" he means your high subject:background separation shots.
So you show them some "normal" shots of her sitting on the sign etc. then pop the high s:b separation shots in for the wow effect.
A "how I set it up" shot is great too though.
Fair enough.
Photography > Photoshopraphy
I've actually been playing basketball with Terrence for quite some time (going on a couple of years now). He was recently hired by a local radio station to DJ a night slot. Knowing I dabbled a bit in photography, he asked if I'd do some headshots for him. ;-)
I'm not quite sure if he was prepared for the 4 light setup that greeted him when he opened my front door. However, he took everything in stride and provided some fantastic material. We took several more plain shots, but I enjoyed this series the most:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8476/8...557b1feb_c.jpg
Rock 93.7 DJ: Terrence by budrowilson, on Flickr
I didn't take a picture of the lighting setup, but the setup description is contained in the Flickr caption.
These are great Sean, I think we all want to know what he was thinking in the third picture.
Glad to see your CD backdrop got some more use. :)