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Thread: Gray Fox with Shadow

  1. #1
    Bill Bryant
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    Default Gray Fox with Shadow

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    Here is another in a series of Gray Fox shots taken with 3 speedlights and PW's.

    I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are on this. While the shadow on the body makes it obvious that it was shot with a flash (generally not good), but the shadow is sort of the quintessential cartoon fox shadow.

    All comments appreciated!

    Canon 50D
    Canon 70-200/2.8 IS
    iso 400
    1/200
    f6.3
    Manual
    3 strobes w PW
    Last edited by Bill Bryant; 01-02-2009 at 05:54 PM.

  2. #2
    Bill Bryant
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    Here is another image taken 30 seconds earlier... with a better head angle fewer shadows, and much less obvious it was flashed?

    Same exposure and set up

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    Bill, To me good shaped shadows work and this with the ear and snout I like! The eye contact in the 2nd is powerful.
    Bob

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    I like #2 better for its impact. I do wish it were horizontal.

  5. #5
    Todd Frost
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    The shadow works for me here also. You did well with exposure and detail. #2 has more visual impact for sure. Agree as to the horizontal.

    Todd

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    The second one really does it for me! Thats a fantastic picture.

    As far as the first one, it's a good photo and the shadow doesn't bother me too much. It looks like the blacks have been lightened (comparing to the second photo) I don't know if that was to lighten the shadow, but I think you could embrace the shadow since its a really cool shadow from the fox's head.

    The problem that I see with the first one is a high angle of view, a lower perspective might have been better. I like both shots though =)

  7. #7
    Fabs Forns
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    Another vote for the second one, that expression is priceless and it shows so much more detail.

  8. #8
    Judy Lynn Malloch
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    Looks like the second one has been voted #1. Both have excellent color and detail but the eye contact in the second one puts it over the top for me. Congratulations Bill on some fine images !!!

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    Both are fine images, I really like the 2nd posting. Lighting and detail is excellent. Your lighting setup seems to be working well. When I was shooting at night in the ICF Pro Tour last year I was using 4 flashes, key fill, back and a low light. What's your setup?

  10. #10
    Bill Bryant
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    Robert, this is my first attempt at multiple flashes outdoors (except for hummingbirds). I was trying for as balanced light as possible, and cover as much of the yard as possible. I ended up with two crossing key lights about 8 feet off the ground (set at 28mm 1/4 and 1/16 power respectively) spaced about 15 feet apart, and one low fill light about 2 feet off the ground set back about 10 feet at about a 30 degree angle (set at 50mm and 1/4 power) .

    Next time I will incorporate a fourth and maybe fifth slaved speedlight for the background. While additional background lighting was not needed for these shots, on the shot I posted a few days ago with two foxes you can see the light quickly fall off behind the animals.

    For those that have not yet tried this there are a number of trade-offs to consider.

    1. How wide to zoom the flash. The trade off is wider covers more area, but decreases the throw or distance the flash will be effective.

    2. Power vs recharge speed. While more power gives you higher f-stops and thus more depth of field, the speedlights recharge much faster at 1/4 power or less, and almost let you do continuous shooting. Nothing is worse than shooting one shot and then having the animal do something cute while you are waiting for your flashes to recharge!

    3. Distance from subject (or where you hope the subject will be). Remember the inverse square law. Flashed light drops off very quickly.
    Last edited by Bill Bryant; 01-06-2009 at 11:32 PM.

  11. #11
    Robert Amoruso
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    Bill,

    Please post only one "different" image per thread. (Guideline 19. Only one image per post.)

    Posting revised, reworked, recropped versions of the original is AOK and encouraged as that allows for a better learning experience. You second version could have been posted 24 hours after the first one.

    I thin you got some good advice above, and do thank you for posting the set-up info. I would go with No. 2.

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