Shoe repairer

Today I have been shooting a shoe repairer for 1,5 hours.
I shot with my new Canon 5D + ST-E2 + 580 EXII behind an umbrella + 430 EX sometimes with a CTO (CTO is for orange gell isn't it ?) + Canon 24-75
At first I used only the 580 behind the umbrella but moments ago I switched on the 430.
The flashes were opposed one another. The 580 at the left and the 480 at the right.
The place where I was with the man is very very small. I could hardly move.

What have I learned from this shots ?
* I was always or too often, balancing the flash from the right to the left and vice-versa. I think that is incorrect. I should have tested and stayed in a balance for more shots that I have.

* I shot in Aperture mode in most of the shots when I should have moved to Manual sooner, using a higher speed to get a deeper background, even if it would be necessary to change to HSS.
I am aware that using HSS the flash/s deliver less power but I think their balance would be kept.

* The 5D is very demanding in terms of focus. I mean: if we are working with rather large apertures - I am talking her about only a f/3.5 - the DoF is shallow and the focusing point is critical. Within the range 35-70 or so.
The 20D is more tolerant as the sensor is smaller...
I have make a table of DoF for both cameras to compare.

* I should have seen how harsh the shadows were with the flash on the right (430 EX).
Are you still there reading ? Good. Thank you. Nice of you.
Sorry but I can't place a smily here ...

1. 2. 3. 4.

Antonio,

Focus on the 5D in low light is not first class.

Lighting in such conditions is tough. You actually have all the information but work is needed in photoshop to bring out the great potential in each image. I do like these pictures very much and again this work reminds me of the photographs of Tim Armes who, I think really has got this genre worked out. I must say that you have made superb workman pictures but perhaps they were with ambient light.

I'd like to try working on one of your pictures, if that's O.K. by you?

Asher

Asher.
Remember that I was using the ST-E2 which adds to focus.
It's OK if you work on my images. Never mind.

Antonio Correia said:

Asher.
Remember that I was using the ST-E2 which adds to focus.
It's OK if you work on my images. Never mind.

Click to expand...

Thanks for allowing me to play with you photograph!

As long as the image is there, one can still get a good result most of the time. What's difficult is the lighting. So I have worked on that and added more light to the shoemaker. I've also moved in the right side of the histogram and added an S curve. Then there's selective sharpening mostly to the man!

I decided it looked best in B&W with some toning as that gets rid of non-sienna colors which distract from the image of the man in his milieu.



Hope this fits in with your ideas!

Asher