just for practice

Camera:  Canon 5D 1/60 f/4 ISO 50  Lens: 24-105 f/4 L IS USM  Light:  Canon 580 EX TTLII 

This is a very special photo to me for several reasons.  First, it reminds me that the practice photos can be better than the real ones - Bernal and I were just talking while I snapped off some practice photos to calibrate the camera and the off camera flash (which I didn't end up using for any other photos for the rest of the wedding).  Secondly, it is one of the first off camera flash portraits I ever tried to pull off.  The flash is off to camera right on a tripod shooting through a tri-grip Lastolite panel.  I was using my 580 EX II to trigger an original 580EX using the IR canon wireless system.  I had absolutely NO CLUE what I was doing - hence this is just about the only off camera flash photo that came out.  This was one of those dumb luck photos that I shouldn't have gotten - the rest of the off camera photos I attempted are trash.  I got home and this is the photo that encouraged me.  It got me excited about the possibilities.  A week and a half later I signed up for the Ziser Master Class.  Stretch yourself.  Push your ability with things you are not comfortable with - it may not come out ... actually, it probably won't come out.  If you never change anything everything will always stay the same.  The definition of madness is never changing anything anything and expecting things to change.  I hope this image inspires you to go out and try something new with your images.