Advice?

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lawofsod

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john
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Hi there. I used to frequent this forum a while back but then managed to lose my login details. I've been doing photography for the past few years (mainly landscape and motors) but have had limited success with portraits.
my main problem has actually finding people willing to have their photo taken! Now i have a few people who are willing to sit, i was wondering if anyone could give me a few pointers on lighting techniques for both outdoor and indoor settings. I don't have access to a lighting rig, so am relying solely on my trusty flashgun.
all advice greatly received.
many thanks.
 
A little more info would be good. What camera do you have and which flash?

Depending on all this I would get the flash off camera and use it like a single studio strobe. Once off camera you can do all sorts.

If it must stay on camera then you need a diffuser for the flash to soften the light.

Hope that helps and makes sense.

Dean
 
If the flash must stay on camera, and assuming it can tilt & swivel, try bouncing it off a wall to give direction to the light. Try sitting subjects next to windows or if sunny get outdoors and get the sun behind them to get a halo effect on their hair.
 
Thanks guys! I'm using a canon 450D with a jessops 360AFD flashgun (budget conscious). I do have remote triggers for it too. I think (and probably should have said so. Sorry) that i need more advice on when to bounce flash and probably using power settings, but I'm guessing that's more trial and error really.
 
Do you have a a big white wall or a loft in your house? I've found bouncing a flash off of a big white surface particularly the sloping wall of my top floor gives a gorgeous soft light even from just one flashgun. In terms of location shooting, softer light is almost always better as, in the same way that everyone can identify on camera fill flash just from the look of the image, the majority of photographers can identify a single unmodified lightsource, particularly if it's the only lightsource i.e. shots taken at night etc.
 
Get or make a reflector, which can work well for fill or reflected light.
 
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