The Chances

Well, I'm almost entirely unhappy with the results of my first shots using my Alien Bee setup. I'm still not entirely sure what I did wrong. The setup was basically, the Bee set up about 5 feet away from the subjects, 45-degrees to the left, through an umbrella. I pointed the dedicated flash to the ceiling to trigger the Bee, and my wife held a 3'x4' piece of foamcore about a foot away from the subjects on the right. I metered with my Sekonic L-358, using the dedicated flash to trigger the meter, as opposed to a sync cord, in order to better represent the fact that there was a 2nd flash bouncing off the ceiling. Finally, I used the backdrop I describe building in the Documents section.

They were sitting in one of those rockers designed to rock your baby. I didn't have a stool, and the kitchen chairs were too tall for the kids. Unfortunately this rocker was the only chair I had low enough, and the kids had a tendency to rock while I was trying to take their pictures. The chair was FILTHY, so I put some fabric I had bought with the hopes of using it as a backdrop (it wasn't wide enough) on the chair, so as to make it not look so bad.

Before I link to the pictures, I need to ask, what did I do wrong? The backdrop looks TERRIBLE! There are other things wrong with my shots, such as I was having a problem focusing, not to mention the fact that I couldn't "see" the shadows using the modeling lamp. Is it supposed to be this difficult?

Now, keep in mind I've only just finished NYIP Unit 2. I've listened to the tapes and read the books for Unit 3 once, but I still felt like I didn't know anything. I suppose that's what it's all about, right? Get comfortable with one aspect, then dive in head first into the next and feel totally in the dark.

OK, the pictures. Please let me know what I could have done to make them better. Iron the backdrop? Use a soft filter? Hire somebody to chew my food?



After a while my wife got tired of holding the foamcore. So everybody sing "Every Breath You Take" while looking at the shadow!



Finally, the last one really shows off the wrinkles of the backdrop and the purple cloth I put on the chair. Since it's big, I won't link to it inline.