event and portrait shots
February 21, 2009 | Filed Under events, family photos, friends
okay so this wasn’t really assignment per se… but it was a chance to take some shots that some people need, while practicing with the new camera as well as a speedlight with a sto-fen cap on it – one of the diffusers i am thinking about using, basically just a plastic white “cap” that slides on to the top of your flash head – so it was VERY helpful to try it out in the lobby of my brother’s office building – an open atrium-style lobby, at night. basically, it took me a while, but i finally ended up putting the flash on manual and dialing down the power and pointing it up and behind me, to get the least shadows and the most even lighting. taking portraits of my brother and his law firm partner up in the office (as well as pictures of raheela!) i found it better to take the cap off entirely and just bounce the flash off the low ceiling instead.
hope that made some sense to somebody 
here are the pictures from thursday evening! the event was a fundraiser for dr. esam omeish, who is running for a seat in the virginia house of delegates – that’s in the last two shots.
i have to also note: i ended up cropping a lot of these pictures, just slightly. maybe it’s taking me some time to get used to the full frame of the 5D, because i almost never ever crop… but it sure is nice to have the freedom to decide! alhamdulillah.
practicing with the flash in the office – raheela and my sister-in-law, rabiah ahmed of mirza pr:
my brother, hassan ahmad:
his partner, ashraf nubani:
my brother in his office, by a desk that had just been mauled by two almost-three-year-olds…
just a couple of shots from the actual fundraiser:
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5 Responses to “event and portrait shots”
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Are you shooting TTL or Manual?
Check out http://www.strobist.com
Stofen was the first diffuser I used, but soon realized that diffusers lose too much light. For on camera flash, the best thing to do is use it bare and bounce off walls. It becomes more even with less shadows. The only thing that becomes a concern is eye shadows/raccoon eyes. This is easily dealt with by attaching an index card via rubber band. Shoot the flash up to bounce off ceiling and the card will reflect some fill into the eyes.
yeah strobist has a LOT of great information! i was using ettl with the sto-fen but in the three-story lobby i couldn’t bounce off anything, so the diffuser was helpful – but you’re right, i felt like it was throwing waaay too much light around.
so do you think the little white card that comes built in to the flash would be enough to deal with raccoon eyes?
the other problem i have is lighting full-length vertical shots – if i’m at the wrong distance, bouncing leaves the bottom half of the image in shadow… that’s why i was trying the diffuser, to see if something else would help?
lovely photos! I really like the one of Hassan at his desk.
I agree with Saad, in general I’m not a huge fan of Stofen and such. Bouncing always worked very well, esp with the “card on the flash” trick. The other option I used and actually really like, if you don’t have walls to bounce off of, is the Lumiquest Promax system, which comes with some colored inserts as well which I barely use but sometimes can be helpful. I don’t have recent examples but way back in the film days I used it quite a lot and it worked decently well.
Shafaq Mashallah, shashm-e-bad-door, has very photogenic face, all her “head shots” you have demonstrate that adequately. May Alla keep her smiling and beautiful always (I know Imran will be happy with my dua, yes I pray for him too and really have admired him more and more as time is passing although I dont talk to him as much)
hey sallams ayesha,
Hassan’s pics came out great. Send me copies of them as well.
Rabiah