Strawberry Shortcake

I am learning that a lot of the photos I like contain lighting that didn't happen all by itself, but instead was created specifically by the photographer, either with flashes or with the positioning the subject relative to natural light source(s). So isn't it safe to assume that the facial expressions and body positions of subjects in these photos were also to the credit of the photographer?

Well maybe, but not if that photographer is your's truly!

When it was Strawberry Shortcake's time to shine for the Halloween series, she was obviously quite happy and willing to participate, but I managed to coax this great expression of disapproval from her with my impressive skills. Or, maybe it was something more like, I convinced her to be the first subject so I could fine tune the lights and she expressed her opinion of my efforts. You'll never know!

While it was a tedious process for her to watch me struggle to get what I wanted, she approved of the final setup. I had a tough time choosing which shot to use of her because I liked both (for different reasons).

Strobist info: These shots were both lit by 3 flashes: the main (front) light is an SB-800 with a 1/4 CTO gel in a shoot-thru umbrella, zoomed to 24mm and fired at 1/4 power. The two back/rim lights are an SB-600 & an SB-25, both snooted and zoomed to 85mm and, fired at 1/16 power.