Saturday afternoon my shooting buddy Graham and I went with my mother for a portrait shoot at a location near the River Severn in Powys. It was quite cold which focused us on what we wanted to cover. We had some objectives which included specific types of shots in natural light. Once that task was out of the way, our next task was to tastefully add flash to natural light. Most of the shooting we’re doing at the moment has very specific goals of what we want to achieve and this last weekend was a great start! As my mother is elderly we had to adopt an image strategy that would suite her. Before we went out, I got my mother to choose the correct clothes, scarf and a selection of hats to take with us. Also, we hoping to use a reflector more… but it was just too cloudy and around 4pm.
Location near the River Severn. ISO 800, 1/60 sec, F8, Aperture Priority, +0.7 EV.
Different camera angle. ISO 500, 1/160 sec, F4, Aperture Priority, +0.7 EV.
ISO 500, 1/125 sec, F4, Aperture Priority, +0 EV.
Then is was time to use a single flash bounced into a Kood 24" umbrella which was placed about 10 feet away. My goal here was to get better at mixing ambient light with flash. Using bare flash is too punchy and wanted a much softer look for this image. ISO 400, 1/200 sec, F4, Manual.
Same setup as the previous image, but a close up...
I now always check what other options they are and with the same location and same setup, I took this from a different angle.
Then back to natural light and this shot was around 3 stops over compared to what the camera would have chosen. ISO 800, 1/40 sec, F4, Manual.
Now that we were back to natural light, Graham noticed that we could add a little kick light without disrupting the natural light feel. So we setup a flash on very low power to add a bit of kick light on the right side of my mother's face. ISO 800, 1/30 sec, F4, Manual.
This is the setup from the previous shot. Graham shooting...
Same location but just round the corner. A single flash on a stand. ISO 400, 1/100 sec, F5, Manual.
Photo Rebel 
Hi Gwyn, This is a great idea! Your mother looks so happy! The shoots are stunning! Great job, I am really impressed.
I look forward to seeing you soon. Cheers, Radmila
Thanks Radmila 🙂 You’ve made my day! It was a fun shoot… Really looking forward to meeting up in June also…
Hey Gwyn,
I like the B&W one best, although there are lots of good ones. I also like 4078, but that might be because your Mum’s pose reminds of Paddington Bear (it’s the hat, I think!).
Cheery,
Jason.
Thanks Jason. 4078 is my favourite! I’m getting happier with my images and my post-production is getting closer to a minute per photo. Its amazing how useful a hat & scarf are to make a picture… 😉
Hi Gwyn,
Oh, what lovely photos. How lovely your Mum looks. Please give her a big hug from me. Well done,,,,,,stunning shots. Love and huggles……Les xxxxx
Many thanks Lesley 🙂 It was a great shoot even though it was quite cold! I’m looking forward to this next weekend too! Going to be in Hertfordshire.