Hello again, here are some portraits I took a while back but I only now had the time to process due to the amount of work I have.
All shots with 5DmkII and 24-105L is

Single flash used.

I really like how these came out, nice, simple and classy.

Enojy:

WOW. Those look very professional. Did you use photoshop to get that gradient "effect" on the background? Or was that the flash?

mostly it's the flash

very professional indeed.
you could almost pass those up for billboard ads

just a speedlight external flash?

they're really good - but your camera seems to produce colour which seems different to all other cameras ive seen. do you like tweak the contrast or anything?

only 1 speedlight, yes.
Obviosly I use postprocessing for my pics, I work on color and contrast usually.

Id like to see her smile more, first and second seem bit too much softened from the face, other ways theyr great, i especially like the tones, contrast and rest of the processing. How did u use the flash on these?

Iv been practising this kind of blurring a bit and id like to know if you blur before sharpening or after that, or maybe before and after?

Saw these on Flickr yesterday, awwesome as usual

I know, I had to soften her face alot (wasn't her best day I guess XD), but also consider that the light is meant to smooth and flatter (it's called a beauty light).
I put the flash on a lightstand with a shoot through umbrella and held it just above the camera pointing it towards the face. The trick is to get as close as possible without getting into the picture.

Do you mean the skin blurring?
Anyways, I keep the sharpening for last and I always use layer masks.

This post was edited by Astragony on Feb 3 2009 02:24am

They're really good pictures. I like her dress. Pro pics.