Originally Posted by
TakahiroW4047
How's your progress through Strobist101 by David Hobby? Hope you're still at it.
EDIT: I forgot, actually his "[url="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/06/lighting-102-introduction.html]Lighting102[/url]" lessons are more comprehensive and step-by-step. He created the 101 "on the fly", so he admits that it wasn't as friendly as an intro to strobism. The 102 has specific lighting "assignments" that you should complete after each step. Plus, there's a strobist flickr community where you can submit each of your progress via specific tagging. You can view others "assignments" by searching those specific tags to see how you compare at that specific skill level and knowledge. It's far more interactive than the 101. Sorry, should have posted the 102 link first, weeks back.
As for C&C of your photos, lighting is a huge factor that sways how the image turns out (eg - determining the "focus" of the image, mood, etc). And since you are just learning off camera lighting, that would go into consideration when I'm viewing your photos. ButI think it would be difficultto assess your image based upon your subject selection and composition alone. At this point I think it would be unfair to you for us to critique your composition, because sometimes an image with the seemingly "worst" composition with cluttered subjects can be turned into a "good" image with some selective lighting to bring out the true focus of the image.
That being said, I don't think you need to juggle multiple things at once here (Lighting & Overal composition). It's difficult to excel in both, when poor lighting lowers your perception of composition. I would focus on going through [url="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/06/lighting-102-introduction.html]Lighting 102[/url], completing each "assignment" and get a real good grip on the concept of off camera lighting. You'll be using simple, mundane objects so you can disregard composition all together and just focus on lighting first. Once you master the fundamentals of off camera lighting, then I think you can start creating the image of your liking with creative subjects, composition, and a clear intension. At that point, I'll be more than happy to come "bash" your photos [img]/emoticons/emotion-5.gif[/img]
Here's an example of the strobist community participating in each assignment.
[url="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/06/lighting-102-12-position-distance.html]Lighting 102: 1.2 - "Position - Distance"[/url]
[url="http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=all&q=strobist+lighting102+positio n+distance&m=text]AssignmentPosted On Flickr[/url]
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