Project 365 (6)

I'm playing catch up, so I have 2 posts coming back to back. Since I am on the topic of progress, I wanted to post an image I shot last January. I used to be intimidated by the thought of using a flash. I only thought of using a flash when I there wasn't enough light in the environment. Park that flash on the top of the camera and let that light fly. Illuminate the subject and let the background fade into the shadows. That was my only need for flash.


Until I stumbled upon a website that "shined a light" on me and led me to the valley of off camera flash. Strobist is his name and www.strobist.com is that website. I read those posts like most people read murder mysteries.  I never knew that you could get studio quality photos from these small little flashes, but here was this photographer producing stunning images with nothing more than a flash and an umbrella. What really amazed me was how he was able to have his subject and background lit so that each was gorgeous in their own right. He calls this flash and ambient balancing. I knew at that moment the direction that my craft was pushing me. I bought my first off camera setup shortly after reading that website and here is one of my first attempts at flash and ambient balancing.