I like both of these. The first has nice even lighting, but what makes it is his priceless expression. The backcloth and props are spot on too.

I personally think the second is superb, the tones bring out just the right amount of detail especially in the wrinkles on the forehead. The towel (dressing gown?) is genius as a prop to both frame and staedy the baby.

I think the framing is ok. If you went for a square format his head would be at the top and look a bit odd.

Nice set... 2; 4; and 15 are my favourites. I love the graduated tones you have achieved with 15 in particular.

Looks a super place for a day out.

I think they are both lovely portraits of your happy boy.

I think you have achieved a soft effect with the lighting by bouncing the flash. As far as the shadow to the right of the head and his left arm another flash off camera would fill that, but perhaps you could instead allow more ambient light from a window help to fill the shadow. Or use a reflector placed to the right of your boy to reflect back some flash or ambient light.

If I can be critical of the framing of the first one , I would say that the visible strip of wall above the sofa cushion is a bit distracting.

Lovely portrait Nigel.

Showing the set-up is very helpful too. It is interesting that despite having two light sources quite close to your daughter, the result is soft light that brings out "form". Before I had read your guide and started to delve into the world of flash, I would have expected the opposite!

A question for you on umbrella (or any reflector really), is the difference between a white or silver colour. When would one colour be a better choice than the other, and can indeed they be combined in a multi flash set-up ?

Loving the mono ones Nigel, especially the one with three people at the top.

Try taking some pictures of a brick wall. Then you can better compare sharpness across the whole image.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments.

As I said to Nigel in a thread a few months ago, it was my mission this year to learn about using flash creatively. Despite being a photographer for almost 40 years I had never used flash seriously before, except when I wanted to take a family picture where ambient light was not enough.

I have learned a lot from Nigel's excellent guide, plus from scouring the net for tutorials. it is now a case of putting it all into practice and experimenting to see for myself what works and what doesn't.

As i post more examples I will, as in the case of these photos, be extremely grateful for any comments and criticism.

A Ha indeed !

Lovely soft light on these Nigel. Really brings out the detail where it counts.

I concur with John's comment. If I am taking a number of different shots of the same scene (or more accurately the same lighting conditions), I want the WB to be consistent across all images. This means I invariably use Daylight.

I exclusively shoot RAW, so using a different WB for a set of images during PP is very easy should I wish to.