Here is a set of images that I shot for another assignment in my Fashion and Glamour Photography class at UW-Stout. I was aiming for more of a mainstream, retail fashion look. The assignment was a set of three fashion images shot outdoors.

These photos are also the first I have taken with my new 580 EX II Speedlite. I wanted to shoot during the golden hour before sunset, playing with fill flash and back-lighting with the sun. I didn’t have a light stand or anything to diffuse the flash with, so I had some mixed results. It was a good learning experience though. For instance, I learned that I want some Radio Poppers, a softbox, and a proper light stand (with sand bags, because it was really windy). Always more to buy…

I pushed these images pretty hard in post processing. I developed two copies in Lightroom. One with a cooler white balance, and one that was more yellow. Then I masked the shoes in with the cooler white balance, and kept the background warmer. I was hoping for some nice color contrast. I added quite bit of sharpening to the shoes too.

These photos turned out almost like what I imagined, but I am looking forward to having some better equipment, and trying again. I think learning to light with flash on location will really take my work up a notch. Look for more trials and errors posted here soon.