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A couple of weeks ago, I told you that I got my hands on a Vivitar 285HV shoe mount flash (click for more on that).

My first impressions of the flash were positive. With it’s uber-manual controls and low price ($89 from Amazon), this is a tough deal to beat.

Then I ran off to Colorado for five days and decided to bring my new flash along for the ride. I has intentions on getting some really great family portraits in Rocky Mountain National Park, but thanks to it being 35 degrees, wind blowing 50 MPH, and it snowing off and on, it didn’t happen. Did I mention I was wearing shorts? Yeah, the portrait setup wasn’t happenin’, no way. The good news for me though is that we’re about to put our house on the market and move there, so many portrait opportunities still remain to be had.

But I digress. My sister in law is pregnant with twins. What a great opportunity to bring some gear and get some nice maternity shots for her and my brother! Armed with two small flashes I had the control to get some great portraits of them in their new home in Colorado.

Outdoor Photos

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With about 20 minutes left before we had to run to the airport, we started off taking some shots outside in their backyard. I positioned them in the shade of an aspen tree to help control the light better. I stuck my Canon 430EX flash on an umbrella bracket and fired it into a silver umbrella using Pocket Wizards. No light stand, I had my mom hold it. I positioned her to camera left and at 45 degrees to my brother and sister in law.

Now this would have made a fine portrait on it’s own, but I had that Vivitar just sitting there, so I couldn’t let it go to waste. I had my wife hold it, triggered by the Wein optical peanut slave behind them and to the left side. This gave the look that the sun was shining on to their faces. It really did add to the photo in my opinion.

Now take note that both of the flashes were coming from the same side as the sun. Had I positioned the flashes on the right, something would have looked a bit “off”. Putting the lights on the left side makes it look natural, and to the untrained eye, they would never even know I used flash. But had I not used it, my brother and SIL would be dark and would lack modeling.

My conclusion? The flash had more than enough power for these outdoor photos. I had power to spare. And the Wein slave worked great, even in the bright sunlight where the flash was positioned.

Indoor Photos

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Next, with just minutes to spare, we went inside for some dramatic low key photos. We dug up a dark blue blanket and hung it on a window as our background. We popped off some shots quickly and off we went to the airport.

This isn’t my favorite shot from the indoor photos, but it demonstrates the use of the Vivitar (I like to do these types of photos with a single light, so there were many with just the 430EX). I had my wife hold the 430EX in the umbrella high and to camera left as the key light. Then my mom held the Vivitar off to camera right and across the room. It was bare with no diffusion for a nice hard light source. Take a look at the shadows from their fingers to see the hard versus soft shadows it produced.

Once again, the Vivitar performed beautifully combined with the Wein slave. I give this flash a huge thumbs up. I think I’ll buy another one for these location shoots.

Test Run Part 2

Shortly after coming back from Colorado, my wife and I did a photo session with a model back here in Austin. All outdoors with lots of light. We brought along the two flashes and once again I was very happy with the results. You’ll be seeing the results of that shoot soon here on the site.

My ultimate conclusion? If you’re short on lighting and are thinking about getting some more, buy this flash. You won’t go wrong, I promise.