Fancy Feast
Beginning in 2011, my housemates at the time and I started a tradition of having a Fancy Feast every winter where we would dress up in nice clothes and cook a delicious meal to share around the table. That tradition has continued almost every year since then, though the makeup of the group has changed as some original members got married and/or moved away.
This past Saturday was Fancy Feast 2018 and a good time was had by all. I thought I would try to take some nice pictures for people since we were all dressed up, so I set up a little lighting and took some portraits. Unfortunately I'm not very good with flash lighting (or for that matter, setting up good composition for indoor portraits) and therefore am not overjoyed with the results, but I thought I'd share a few pictures anyways.
For these shots I had a small softbox set up just to my left, and another flash right behind the subjects. If any of you wonderful people who know much more about lighting than I do have any suggestions or critiques for how I could have lit the scene better, I would definitely love to hear them!
@theblake looking fly
Suit Up
Flowery
@jrue workin' it
Fancy Baby
What a respectable looking bunch. Wish I could be there.
I would have invited you, but you're not very respectable!
Love them! Unique approach to portraits, but it kind of makes it timeless in a sense. I'm missing the one with Joel's thirty foot legs though, haha.
Thanks fam! Haha, they're so freaking long!
Nice work dude, hope you all enjoyed the feast! In terms of critique I guess I'd say the back flash isn't really doing as much as it could be, maybe if it was lower than your key light but camera right it would help bring up a few of the shadows and even the scene a bit. Also, the poses are great but a good rule for flash is to get them to turn their nose towards the light/maneuver the light. That said they all look really good, it's only nitpicking! If you're getting more into OCF the MagMod gear is pretty awesome!
Oh it was a great time!
Ah I see, so having it lower would eliminate some of the shadows that the flash to camera left isn't getting? Is that the rationale? And in regards to pointing the nose, does that mean it would be better to either have them turn their heads a bit, or move the flash to almost straight behind me? Thanks for the suggestions.
Also, just spent a while looking at MagMod gear for a while, looks pretty sweet! Do you have a recommendation if choosing between the MagSphere and MagBounce?
I'd get them to turn their heads slightly to keep the flash to the side, even if you can just fill that shadow on the nose with a little flash from the opposing side it just lightens the harshness of those lines a bit.
In terms of Magmod DEFINITELY the MagSphere, the bounce is alright, but the Sphere basically does the same but way better, the light is super even and soft, you can shoot anywhere and make it all look pretty natural!
Gotcha, thanks for the tips! I need all the help I can get :)
Well, I'm now the proud owner of a fancy new MagSphere thanks to your recommendation! Excited to playing around with it when it gets here!
Yes! Nice one dude, although if I'd known you were going to buy it so fast I'd have found you a discount code! Let me know if you are planning anymore Mag purchases, I can usually get a 20% discount code! You'll love it though, I hate on camera flash, but it MagSphere just shapes the light beautifully, or at least as well as possible for an on camera strobe! Once you're into the Magmod stuff the gels/grids are pretty awesome too
Well damnit! Jumped the gun on that one haha! That's good to know, I may be getting a grid at some point, those looked interesting! Thanks man, appreciate the help.
No worries dude! We're sponsored by them so we sometimes get special deals through too, I'll let you know if anything good comes up.
Ooh nice man! That's super cool. Nice, you're the best!
Super cute!! For a full second I thought you were talking about Fancy Feast cat food. Haha. Jeez.
I agree with @skiesandsports on the lighting although at the same time, it looks totally fine. Everyone is lit evenly and everyone looks great! The only thing that really bothers me is that lamp with the beaded shade in the background... move it to one side or the other or remove it altogether. Haha I'm a background freak though. Overall nicely done! Indoor party portraits are super hard. Cheers!
Haha! Classic mixup!
And yeah, agreed about the lamp. That's the sort of thing that I'm terrible about thinking of when I'm taking the pictures, and then I notice it later and am super annoyed haha. I just need to take longer and think everything through more! Thanks though :)
I love the 2nd one so much! They've absolutely smashed some fancy old timey poses and the light at the top looks great. This is one fancy room! Well done fancy room people.
Ah, I'm mostly scared of babies... but that is one great Fancy Baby shot. It might be the best Fancy Baby photo on the blockchain.
Thanks dude! If there was a contest to see how many times the word "fancy" could be used in one comment, you would be the runaway winner!
Babies are scary, except for Fancy Babies.
That's a nice tradition, looks like you had a great time:)
Sounds like a fun time! Nice idea since a lot of people don't get dressed up anymore. Pot Luck Dinners are always fun and exciting. Photos are good. I think perhaps you are your own worst critic...
For sure! You never know what you're gonna get with a potluck haha. And thanks, appreciate it :)
I love this idea! Way to go guys! 100% upvote and following you now! Looking forward to more!
Ohhhh FANCY FEAST ... I bet all the Cats loved that!!
I think they did, though my cat language skills are a little rusty, so I'm not positive!
Such a nice idea!