Hi All,

Took some photos of my son on his birthday last week, just looking for some feedback on them. this is my first time doing this so its all very new to me.

I used a Sigma EF610 DG ST which was on the camera, pointed behind me slightly up and to the left. As you can see this has resulted in a nice overall look to the face but there is a shadow visible behind and to the right of the head.

Is there anything I can do to mitigate this without buying another flash and a flash stand?

Also just after general comments on the composition etc.

Thanks!



f4 | 1/180s| 45mm | 100 ISO



f4 | 1/180s| 50mm | 100 ISO

Yeah the idea would be to mount them all on a white backing in a deep frame, maybe something I'll have a play with.

Oh, and the Sigma lens was beyond repairable sadly, but would be nice to do something else with it.

Anyone done/seen anything similar?

Thinking of mounting all the pieces inside a deep frame or something.

He was, yeah, probably because I asked him to sign a model release form.

Lots of really useful information here and interesting to hear peoples differing opinions on it, I'll have a proper read through later!

I will say I hadn't even considered using the 55-300 due to its fairly small aperture f4-5.8 I think.

Its also interesting to me that there seems to be a divide here over whether or not to use the flash, I guess theres arguments for both, I'm still learning with the flashgun but did get some pretty good results last week at my sons birthday party.

As some have mentioned this is a pretty informal family type event but I personally wanted to treat it as if it was a wedding reception just for my own development.

Thanks all for your comments, glad you like the shot. It was one of those high pressure situations with the wife tutting at me to hurry up. Maybe I'll print it out and give it to her as a present

I've been asked to shoot a party my Grandad is putting on in July, its going to be in a function room with use of the garden/outside space, similar to a small wedding recpetion, 50-80 people I'd say. He's asked me to act as photographer for the day, wants candids of people throughout the day and also group shots. I've never done anything like this before. Here's the kit I currently own:

k3ii with grip and 3 batteries.
Sigma 17-50 f2.8
DA L 50mm f1.8
Pentax 55-300
DA 18-55 WR
M50 f1.7
SIGMA EF-610 DG ST
2x64GB SD cards
Velbon Tripod

Plan is to use the 17-50 f2.8 with the flashgun attached to the camera with a diffuser on top.

Just after some tips and advice really.

Anything else I should look at buying? Is it worth renting anything? I could probably borrow my old K-x DSRL I gave to my step dad as a second camera.

Pressure is fairly low as its family but I still want to make sure I do it right and do a good job.

Taken at Drayton Manor theme park zoo last week, I waited ages for this guy to look in my direction.

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated!

Love the colours, great set