It's great to see the Cactus products in use out in the wild, and congrats Chris on pulling off a shoot on location with a model. Its no mean feat given the technical challenges, and of course balancing flash and ambient brightness in such conditions is very hard as you can't see the LCD easily

Here I think you've struck the balance just right with the middle one. Personally I quite like the overtly flashy look of the last one, but I know many others who will find it too much "in yer face" ...(well, in her face!). The flash may have been too far away on the first one, as it looks like it's struggled to light the face there, but that's always a hazard with a wider shot

Your model looks radiant and the location really shines with the strong sunlight and dabbled leaf highlights tamed nicely with your fast shutter speeds. Great to see thanks!

I'm only coming at it from my own perspective of course, that's with a very tight or non existent budget for photography now ...... But thinking practically I had a nifty fifty F1.8 for my Canon film SLR, and it was hardly ever used, so I gained no experience really ....

It leaves me wondering what kind of photos and what specific types of situations do people think the new 50mm D FA beast would be used for? Could it be a really useful addition for someone's real world practical photography, ot does it risk being instead a sort of trophy acquisition?

This does change the concept of the "standard" lens, I agree with johnha about that. It's obviously not intended as a kit, starter type of lens, easy to carry around, high quality but simple and light (I think those were the key qualities in most standard 50mm options from the past).

I really hope it does fly off the shelves, as profits for Ricoh equals continuing new developments for all of us ..... I'm just unsure if I understand who this lens really is for (well, the well off Pentax user obviously), but it's extremely rare to see any images actually taken with peoples 50mm lenses, and we know that most people have one or many presumably mostly just gathering fungus and dust.

I am a bit sceptical whether there is the will to actually use a lens like this, and pay for it, in this day and age. I do hope we soon see development of things like an 80-250 F4, or a 20mm F2.4, which are ones I can imagine being used a great deal.

Thanks everyone ..... John, next time we have a kids party I'll wedge them all in there and try some crowd scenes! You're right, for me its about making use of what we've got, that includes equipment and space. If we keep waiting for everything to be ideal we'll miss the chances.

Stuart, I will try a reflector, although I was going for a higher contrast look. Thanks also DSP121, Gajan and Philip, thanks for your feedback! Philip, all survived the experience this time, although I admit that flash photography with small kids does come with it's frustrations at times!

Not interested in gardening ..... That's something we have in common! The only difference for me though is that there's no one else living here who's interested in it either! I have to rely on occasional bought bunches of flowers for my photography. But then my wife always says "well thanks, they're nice, but I know you just bought them for your hobby!" (cue dismissive look that says. "what a waste of time all that photography is, taking flowers for nothing".) I can only make up for it by then taking photos of the kids ....

You've got some gentle colours here, nice yellows and peaceful looking greens. As usual with flowers it's the ones taken in the shade that are better, the diffussed light really helps.

Thanks, some good things to try there ... I'm determined to get my photos looking as far away from the "School Portrait" look as possible (at our school this seems to try to reproduce the look of the artic during a white out, with two giant umbrellas blasting at the kids from both sides evenly.) Anything that's not like that is a plus for me!

Here's a quick phone shot showing the working space for these images . I hope to encourage people to try this even if they don't have much space or studio equipment. The angle of shooting had to exclude the sofa while ensuring that the curtain covers the whole area visible behind the subject .....a bit tight!

Thankyou Peter and Raza

Aiming to solve the problems of portraits in a confined living space, here are a couple of recent ones where I have managed to avoid the light spill onto the black curtains behind. I did this by really squeezing the subject onto a small defined spot, with the lights very close in, and zooming in to remove most space around the edges. I think with a bit of careful positioning and getting angles right, we domestic portrait shooters can avoid the expense and extra space demanded by studio backdrops and the stands and things this would all entail.

The main light is from a white umbrella, and the backlight is a 60x60cm softbox.

K7 - D FA28-105mm - Cactus V6II / RF60x Flashes (x2) - ISO 100 - F9.5 - 1/180th

I'm sure it would be an extra aid worth having, but I tend to feel that overall success with portraits is a combination of things coming together (well, pulled together by the photographer) ..... in particular by using flash I am shooting at 1/180th (or less if going into HSS mode) and stopping down a good amount (say F8 or 9.5). I think these two aspects are probably worth the most in terms of sharpness. Also zooming in and using a focal length of around 85-105mm, combined with the fairly small apertures, brings out the best of the face and head shapes I think.

Ah yes, I know that one ... is that the one that goes "they obviously take after their Father !"

Probably just a bit of miss focus. With kids of these ages its a bit hit and miss I find as they hardly sit totally still, you've just got an eye nailed and then they rock slightly just as you take the shot!

Thanks also Peter, with this weather and me taking portraits the freezer must stay well stocked!