First Day of School Photos

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/7.1, 1/70—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. Power 1/128

First day of school photos is a tradition at our house. I know many people are out doing the same thing this morning and then posting these photos to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and anywhere else they can celebrate and preserve those precious memories.

Now taking photos just before my daughter leaves for school meant I was outside taking these photos at 7:15 am. The sun has been up just for a short time, so it was still not all that bright.

Without a flash the settings were ISO 6400, ƒ/7.1 @ 1/70. I am always in favor of using a flash when there is no great directional light with the available light.

Here is the lighting diagram I used over and over this morning:

The rule of thumb I use for placing my flash, which will be my main light, is 45º to the left or right of the model in relation to the camera as well. I also try and put the height of the flash to about 45º above the camera and the model.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/7.1, 1/70—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. Power 1/128

When the light is placed correctly you will not get a shadow from the light coming across the person's nose that touches the lips.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/7.1, 1/70—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. Power 1/128

Now I moved around the yard to find this location. The grass was just watered so I didn't want to get my daughter all wet before school. The photos above are pretty nice for this morning.

I did start on our driveway and tried to find a nice green background. Problem for my taste was it was just a little too dark.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/7.1, 1/40—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. Power 1/128

I dialed down the Neewer TT850 to the lowest power of 1/128th power and did this with the Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger. I dialed the ƒ-stop up to ƒ/7.1 to be sure my daughter wasn't washed out.

I recommend starting with the available light and the flash all the way down when your exposure was using ISO 6400.  Just be sure your sync speed is the same or slower than your camera's sync speed. For the Fuji X-E2 that is 1/180.

This was making the best of the time of day for the first day of school photos. Just a week ago I used similar setup in the afternoon where the light was brighter.

The only real difference is the light is on the right side rather than the left and it was much brighter than today shooting at 7:15 a.m.

I really love this simple setup for portraits. The Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm—Neewer TT850 & The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. If I were doing more of headshots I would have switched or at least shot more with the FUJINON XF 55-200mm.

Here are those photos from a week ago.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/180—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. 

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/180—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. 

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/180—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera. 

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/180—Neewer TT850 on light stand. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.