She is use to posing for me by now...

So I had an open assignment for my digital class and decided to shoot my gorgeous girlfriend. We set up in her family room with my homemade ringlight to camera right triggered by my Cactus V2 triggers.

She is an awesome model, and I got some excellent expressions from her. She should be use to it by now, because she suffers the fate of all photographer spouses or significant others of standing in front of the camera a billion times. Sooner than later they are like, "Ya, I love taking pictures," to "Ugh...Not again."

In my critique for class, I got some positive as well as some technical feedback. I did have trouble with the print, which printed a lot darker than the one you see here. Also it seems that the Nikon D200, well at least mine and another students, struggles with a lot grain in low light even though I was shooting at 160 ASA.

But I was still happy with what I got. Some people were saying that she had that '70s free love look going on. I can see that and dig it. While setting up, I just wanted to play with the light. I used the ringlight to the right because I wanted the light to quickly fall off as it traveled across her face. On some shots I had a reflector close to her face to help fill in. I also got a little light spill onto the wall about seven or eight feet away.

As far as her expression, I usually feed off of what she is feeling. She has been posing for me for a long time and knows that I really like to tap into those serious and intimate feelings. Usually, we start with a look and build from there, but I think this one was earlier in the shoot.

What do you think?