Assignment 3 - Final Product

On the day of the lighting test, the wireless trigger wasn't working, so I used a speedlight instead of a strobe. On the day of the actual shoot, I tried first with the strobe. But it turned out to be way too strong given the available light. So I went back to the speedlight, which worked well.
The available light was enough to be the main light. The speedlight was used exclusively to create the highlight on the face.
Following Val's comments, I used a longer lens to get a shallower depth of field. The final settings were ISO 250, 1/125th second, f / 6.3.
For the shoot, I used a reflector to punch some light into the upper body, but it wasn't really necessary. I ended up dropping the exposure around the face in lightroom anyways.
I think I caught the mood of the shot. I could have shot a little faster and dropped the f-stop to 5.6 to have a slightly more shallow depth of field. The real challenge in the shot was reproducing the light on the face. It was a question of finding the right positioning of the speedlight and zooming it in to it's most focussed range. All in all, happy with the shot.

Outdoor Shoot

The photo was shot with the following settings
62 mm ISO 400 1/125 sec f / 4.8
At ISO 400, the ambient light reading was 1/125 sec f / 5.6
The speedlight was set to 1/8 power and gave a reading of f / 8
1- The available light was used as the main light. A speedlight mounted on a light stand was used as a kicker. The light achieved was good. But I would like to see more in the face. For the final shoot, I will have a reflector on hand to punch more light into the subject's face.
2 - a focal length of 62 mm was used. I wanted to use a "normal" lens. With the subject right against the wall, there's no need to achieve compression.
3 - Shot at f / 4.8. I wanted to throw the background out of focus while keeping the subject in focus. Looking at my source image now, I wonder if the blurring of the background was done in post. The subject could be sharper. But the fall off of focus works. For the actual shoot, I will shoot at a higher f-stop and do some blurring in photoshop.
4 - The choice of shutter speed was a combination of the available light and shooting a person. Kept it high enough to avoid blurring. I would have gone a bit faster if the available light permitted. But I didn't want to boost the ISO any higher.
5 - The camera settings were a response to the available light. I would have preferred shooting at ISO 100. But you can't always get what you want.
6 - The strobe lighting was fine. A speedlight was used dialled down to 1/8 power.
7 - There could have been more light and the shot would have been fine. Maybe even better since I could have shot at a lower ISO.
8 - I think I may have to blur the background some more in photoshop.
9 - Shoot with a gray card to have a reference point. The light from the strobe is minimal, contrasty and concentrated. It's balanced for daylight. Should it show in a overcast day, it won't be hard to correct in Photoshop.
10 - Equipment list for the shoot.
Camera with 24-70mm lens.
Tripod
Boom stand
One strobe
Wireless transmitter and pc cable in case transmitter fails again
speedlight as backup to strobe
vagabond power pack
gray card
laptop and card reader
Reflector