So, when shooting all the other children, I was very easily able to select a shot out of the set, but with Rachel, there are actually three that turned out well. The first one here is the one I finally chose, but I’m posting the other two candidates as well.

This is definitely Rachel's personality

My son is a ham — all the time. Considering this, you can imagine my joy when I saw how this picture turned out. I only had enough time to shoot a couple pictures of him on our way out the door, and it’s not often someone sees him with clean, ironed clothing and his hair in place, so I was quite excited when the stars aligned and this shot was pulled off the camera. This one will definitely be a family favorite for years to come:

Benjamin's portrait turned out amazingly well.

While flash photography to some may simply be that which causes red-eye, I have been trying to read and learn some of the nuances of lighting and flash usage in my pictures. My biggest difficulty has been the lack of a “real” flash, but I am happy to say that I was able to get one for my birthday over the weekend. The Nikkon SB-600 Speedlight is pretty much the base model in good flashes for my D90, and I’ve been waiting to find a good sale. Pricing doesn’t vary much on them, apparently, so I jumped on the chance to get one from the Circuit City liquidation pricing at almost half off retail.

As with so many other things in life, I had seen and understood a part of the difference a good flash can make, but until you actually use one, it’s hard to really grasp the significant difference in the shots. I thought I would share my first comparison with you. Keep in mind that one of the biggest differences (besides the obvious brightness difference) between using the on-board flash and the hot shoe one is the ability to be able to direct the light and reflect it off different surfaces to keep from the harsh direct lighting typical to home photography. The following two photos show this poignant difference illustrated.
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