First Legit Senior Shoot. Rookie Mistake

[Sean Setters]

" I check my camera bag. No flash. I check my light bag. No flash. I panic. I call my mom at home and she finds my flash. Sitting on the counter.. So we shot natural light haha.

I once read that the most important piece of gear is the gear you have with you. When I was looking at them I was thinking to myself, "Dang, these would be superb with just a little more light on her face..." I think you did very well for what you had (and didn't have) with you... :-)


Question: Do you have your camera set to Auto White Balance? It seems the color balance varies a bit in the group (I'm actually colorblind, so I can't pinpoint exactly what it is). Typically, when doing strobist shots, I set my camera's white balance to Kelvin 5500 (which matches daylight as well as my strobes' output). In fact, I rarely change the white balance because I'm usually shooting in the daytime and with strobes. Anyway, setting your white balance to a Kelvin color temperature means that the photos will have a very consistent color to them. And if an adjustment needs to be made, it can be made to the whole group.

[Rodger]

Thanks for the comments! I probably will go back and change the white balance now that it's been brought to my attention.

Question: Do you have your camera set to Auto White Balance?

I do use auto white balance and then I change it in post. I got too excited to use the color selector in LR and adjusted each photo's WB independently. Not sure why it didn't cross my mind that using that method would produce inconsistencies. Thanks for the tip Sean. You're strobist help is invaluable!

[canoli]

Nice shots Roger. I guess we've all been there, that panic moment when you realize you're missing a crucial piece of gear...ugh! I feel for you - after all that prep and practice...


on the WB thing - you can't ever go wrong having your model hold a white/gray card for one shot, then using that in PP. Take a new shot when the lighting conditions change. Or using that white/gray shot as your custom WB in-camera. Either way takes the guessing out of the equation. And of course you're still free to choose a different WB when you want to (assuming you're shooting RAW of course). (ps - I'm no pro - first-year photog - just passing on what I've learned)


my 2 cents on the B+W image - I'd lose the vignette, or lower its opacity to just barely perceptible. For me the obvious vignetting makes the image too old-timey, which doesn't fit with the model's dress and appearance.


I'm also wondering how a tight crop would look - the horse's head/neck and the model's head n shoulders. There's such personality in both their expressions, but they're a little far away to really see them. But maybe a crop like that would look weird with no context.


Anyway, thanks for sharing your pix, and congratulations on getting the job done - with the gear on hand!