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Apart from the first image here, I setup an indoor studio, which consisted of nothing more than a few sheets, some natural light and the SB-800 remotely triggered from the D70..comments welcomed:

Geoff , The last one is great.

What lens was used the 50 1.4???



MATT

MATT wrote:Geoff , The last one is great.

What lens was used the 50 1.4???



MATT

Spot on!

Wish I hadnt been such a tightarse and got the 1.4 rather than 1.8...

Great shots.

MATT

This is quality work Geoff. Your previous lot were
great too - you really have a talent for the
kiddie/family portrait, not an easy field to do well
either.

Excellent stuff.

Geoff, firstly I think the posing looks spot on and the exposure just right.

My only nits are, and I have used sheets for ebay products and done exactly the same:

1. Iron your god damn sheets (I'm guilty of this too)!

2. Don't use two different colors and have the join of two sheets showing.

3. Overlay them with the edge facing away from the camera, this should help conceal them a bit as the leading edge of the sheet will catch the flash and create a hightlight & shadows along the edge.

kipper wrote:Geoff, firstly I think the posing looks spot on and the exposure just right.

My only nits are, and I have used sheets for ebay products and done exactly the same:

1. Iron your god damn sheets (I'm guilty of this too)!

2. Don't use two different colors and have the join of two sheets showing.

3. Overlay them with the edge facing away from the camera, this should help conceal them a bit as the leading edge of the sheet will catch the flash and create a hightlight along the edge.

Thanks for the constructive criticism Kipper - greatly appreciated. I purposely didn't iron the sheets, sort of wanted a little bit of a 'rough' (for want of a better word) look. Makes sense re the edging of the sheets tho!

Geoff, a wonderful collection of images! I remember doing the same thing with sheets about 15 years ago for an HSC assignment , except my dog was the model!

The last one is an absolute pearler! The eyes, the smile...oh the innocence! Definately one for the wall...I love B&W portraits, must get round to doing more of my kiddies. Well Done it's just beautiful.

Holy Shit Geoff. I cut myself on #2. Damm sharp mate.

Wonderful images - really nice. You certainly have a talent with kids shots as mentioned earlier.

Geoff I see where you're coming from and you wanted texture. The unironed sheets just look like somebody has been lazy and not ironed them imho. You could of created waveyness with the sheets by not pulling them tight (if you know what I mean). Not sure how silk would work for such things, I'm gathering not so good with it's reflective properties.

On a second note, #3 is the weakest shot here imho with no eye contact with the subject and also not in a very interesting pose.

The last shot imho is the best, you've used the sheets well in this shot because you've got a contrasty OOF background but you can't visually see that there a lot of creased sheets
Plus the expression, and the eye contact from the subject is just great.

Geoff , terrific portraits and beautifully exposed. The only thing I would suggest is to use a little PP and throw the background out of focus with a little lens blur filter that will emphasise the subject even more and remove as Kipper has pointed out the unironed sheet look. They are all great but the last one is a standout. Perfect!
cheers
marco

Geoff
Numbers 2,3,4 and 5 would have been brilliant....but that damn kid keeps getting in the way!

Hi Geoff
really nice images....you should be proud of your work. The exposures are fantastic !
I tend to agree with Kipper on the sheets, they sort of distract my eye, especially on #3 where the blue sheet goes on a diagonal. If I were to use creased sheets, I'd probably look to "really crease" them rather than have it look like they've just been pulled off the bed (sorry, not meaning to sound harsh, wasn't sure how best to describe my thoughts)

Also, IMO most of them could have perhaps been a tighter crop or composed down a little, so there wasn't as much free space at the top of the image (but that just be my personal taste coming through...).

I look forward to seeing more....

Aussie Dave wrote:Hi Geoff
really nice images....you should be proud of your work. The exposures are fantastic !
I tend to agree with Kipper on the sheets, they sort of distract my eye, especially on #3 where the blue sheet goes on a diagonal. If I were to use creased sheets, I'd probably look to "really crease" them rather than have it look like they've just been pulled off the bed (sorry, not meaning to sound harsh, wasn't sure how best to describe my thoughts)

Also, IMO most of them could have perhaps been a tighter crop or composed down a little, so there wasn't as much free space at the top of the image (but that just be my personal taste coming through...).

I look forward to seeing more....

Thanx for your comments everyone, very much appreciated. Next time I might iron the sheets

I feel VERY lucky where I am at life. I LOVE taking photos, and I love taking photos that make the people in them adore them!! I still have loads to learn and part of that learning curve is showing the very talented members on this forum!

We've ALL got loads to learn Geoff....and don't sell yourself short ! It's great to hear you talk about how happy this is making you. I think sometimes everyone seems to get caught up in the technical mumbo-jumbo of what the new D200 is like, which lens is best....but don't necessarily stop to take a look at what they already have and what amazing things they can do with their current camera and a bit of creativity !

[/steps of his soapbox]

Dave, going on from that everyone told me that the D70 wouldn't be good enough for the 500. So far I haven't notice a problem, yes flight shots it's a prick but I had the same issues with the 70-200VR. So to me it's no different, the fault lies with the camera and at some stage it will drive me nuts and I will want to upgrade. However for the time being I can take great shots with this lens and camera combo. And it makes me really happy!!

#1 is my fave from the set. A great fun family portrait - everyone has a nice grin...even jnr...

#2 is sharp and beautiful colours, but jnr is a bit too fast and we can see the edge of the sheets. The unironed look doesnt worry me that much, adds a bit of texture to the shot...

...and the last one is great.

Hey Geoff... good to see you're really getting into something you enjoy !!!
Most constructive criticism already been made... you can probably recover much of the sheet issues with a little pp to increase the defocus, the only other comment would be the the shadowing in #3 is a little hard... but you might be able to improve that with a little pp as well.

Ozecho, while I agree with Geoffs idea of getting a textured look my eye/brain immediately says unironed sheet. When you look at a background you shouldn't register that.

I like the last shot in particular Geoff

I just printed the last image out on A3+ paper on the Epson R1800...holy cow this is a BRILLIANT printer! Tomorrow I'm going to have the photo framed, if the client doesn't buy it I will hang it in my 'gallery':)

Thanx for all your comments people.

Well done, Geoff! I just got my SB-800 today and have had some fun triggering it off remotely using the D70 flash. (Can the D200 do that?). I look forward to doing photos like these you did, just for fun. If they are half as good I'll be pleased.

Potatis wrote:Well done, Geoff! I just got my SB-800 today and have had some fun triggering it off remotely using the D70 flash. (Can the D200 do that?). I look forward to doing photos like these you did, just for fun. If they are half as good I'll be pleased.

Hi Doug,
You are going to make the SB800 sing...your work is becoming exceptional. I look forward to your experiments with the flashgun! Re the D200, I'm sure it will be able to tigger the SB800!

Thanks for your comments.