PPWM

The theme for June was Reflections, and this was the winning entry by Sarah MacKinnon of S.MacK Photo & Design. Here’s her story behind this image:

“As Greg mentioned during his presentation last night – It is not always wise (if ever) to practice a new technique during an actual session or wedding. Get out there and practice, practice, practice. That is exactly what I was doing when I created this image.

Me and my flash (Canon 580EXII) have yet to come to some sort of ‘happily ever after’ working relationship. It is pretty much just along for the ride, tucked into my bag, going wherever I go with my camera. Doesn’t see much action at all because of our lack of communication.

“Just set it on TTL” is an answer I’ve heard often when I’ve asked about how to master that piece of equipment. I’m old school. Couldn’t EVEN tell you what the heck TTL is or how to use it.
Hand me a flash meter and I’ll work at it from that angel.

On this day, I was hanging out with my model waiting to get into the studio that I share with two other photographers. We wandered to the unfinished side of the building and thought we’d shoot around with whatever was available until the studio became available. We had window light from the left and the ‘just along for the ride EXII’ from the right.

Add the flash, take a reading, drag the shutter, adjust settings, try again. Looks too ‘flashy’, change the settings, drop the power, change the angel, try again and again and again until we got what we wanted/liked. Practice, practice, practice.

Post production included a little NIK NIK here and a NIK NIK there and a couple of la-de-da’s.

I’m certainly not going to brag about my ‘working relationship’ with my off camera flash yet. I still have a long way to go before I think I’ll feel fairly confident with that gizmo.

I’m thrilled that my image was “The Chosen One” last night and I am thankful that my niece is a very patient model when she gets those calls asking, “Hey, want to come hang out and pose for me while I try out something new?” Thank you Leah!

Thank you PPWM & speaker/judge Greg Schrader”