Me, Vines, and a Snoot

I read a recent post on Strobist.com about street shooting with multiple flashes providing pools of restricted light. I noticed the featured photograph contained vines that looked a lot like the ones that grow in my courtyard. Faced with another dateless Friday night, I hauled out my gear and practiced taking shots of myself. Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 400, 1/16 flash power, 105mm flash zoom, snooted, 7:16 pm I started by taking a shot with only the ambient sunset light. I wish I faced the camera a similar way as in the rest of the pictures, so that I could see the difference the flash makes on my face. Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 400, no flash, 7:09 pm From the ambient shot above, I nailed down the shutter, aperture, and ISO. Now all I had to do was adjust the flash. In this shot, the flash was too powerful and even at 105mm, still too wide. Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 400, 1/4 or 1/8 flash power, 105mm flash zoom, 7:14 pm The flash power was spot on, but the light cast was still too wide. Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 400, 1/16 flash power, 105mm flash zoom, 7:14 pm In the final shot, I snooted the flash which restricted the light immensely. Setup: I put the flash at camera right and extended the light stand high so it shot down on me. Why? I needed the flash to cast a shadow under my chin to make my face look thinner. What can I say, I'm vain! :-) One huge difference between my shots and the one that inspired it is I only used one flash, so I couldn't create multiple pools of restricted light. Oh well, I only own one working flash. Once I nail down using one flash and get a raise, I'll buy another.