Portrait Lighting - Indoor and Outdoor

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Canon_Chica

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Hi All

Im venturing into portrait photgrpahy ( used to do travel + landscape) and have 2 flashguns which I can use off camera etc but am unsure of what lighting I need now if at all. I want to do shots like those below ( think its called strobist) looking at possibly getting a kit if I need to or can I make do with a Ezybox hotshoe kit? Want to use indoor and outdoor too sometimes?Any advice would be appreciated for a newbie!
Thanks!:)
Do I get a Bowens kit - 200 or 400? or Ezybox kit?
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-bowens-gemini-200-200-2-head-studio-kit/p1029931#details
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-lastolite-joe-mcnally-ezybox-hotshoe-54x54cm-white/p1524013

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Where to start?
When you say that you can use your flashguns off camera, does that mean you have experience of doing it (and all the necessary triggers / stands)? or just that you could use them Off Camera if necessary?

The Bowens kit is no good for outdoor as it's mains powered - if you want portable studio gear you'll need to spend a lot more.

You should start with the flashguns and see if you've really got a desire to spend a lot of money.

There's loads of softboxes available for flashguns without spending that kind of money, look at ebay and Amazon, likewise cheap stands and flash brackets, you'll also need a reflector or 2. Have a read through the recent threads here, ignoring all the ones obviously about backgrounds.

Try the Strobist blog, the Speedlighters handbook (awesome for Canon, still brilliant for other makes).

After 2 months of reading that lot - you'll be good to go.
 
Will try the softbox option as budget is limited :)
i use flashguns off camera via transmitters but can definitely look at adding softboxes to get that look and start reading up
Thanks Phil!
 
Get the book - it answers all the questions you have and many you've not yet considered.
Easy to read - bite sized chunks. Do you shoot Canon? what flashguns / triggers do you have?
 
I have the Canon 600 EXRT and also Nissin 7866. If i was to want to use them both off camera at same time would the canon st e2 work? I was looking at getting the yongnuo yn 622 to use on them but it seems as though i would need 2 pairs? can i even mount 2 lots on the canon?? or would the canon st e2 work better?
 
Re YN622s; You wouldn't need 2 pairs, you'd need 3. They're not 'pairs' in that way, one transmitter can trigger many receivers.

However - for free
If you put your current receiver on the 600ex and use Manual flash, I believe it'll fire the Nissin which I think has an optical trigger built in. If the optical trigger is a figment of my imagination, you'll need another receiver to match your existing setup.

Obviously with 622s you can remote control the power of the flashes in either ETTL or Manual mode from the camera (if your camera has flash control menus).

Do you mean Di866?

As before, light modifiers are the most important part of the equation, as in all photography it's the quality of light that gives a great image.
 
Canon_Chica said:
I have the Canon 600 EXRT and also Nissin 7866. If i was to want to use them both off camera at same time would the canon st e2 work? I was looking at getting the yongnuo yn 622 to use on them but it seems as though i would need 2 pairs? can i even mount 2 lots on the canon?? or would the canon st e2 work better?
Click to expand...
One more thing to consider: If you have a Canon 600ex-rt, you might want the st-e3-rt. It communicates directly with your Canon flashgun via radio frequencies and does all the fancy eTTL and remote power adjustment stuff. Of course your Nissin Di866 won't work that way, as it is a proprietary 600ex-rt based system.
 
Lol yes I meant di866 :lol:
You are right it does have optical trigger and ive used the 600 to fire the nissin wen the 600 is mounted on the camera
Would I be able to use the yonguo transmitter on my canon to fire off the 600 and nissin? Would I still need 3 then? Budget wont allow the st-e3 :(
Ive ordered the book also :clap:
 
Canon_Chica said:
Lol yes I meant di866 :lol:
You are right it does have optical trigger and ive used the 600 to fire the nissin wen the 600 is mounted on the camera
Would I be able to use the yonguo transmitter on my canon to fire off the 600 and nissin? Would I still need 3 then? Budget wont allow the st-e3 :(
Ive ordered the book also :clap:
Click to expand...

The important distinction is between firing and controlling.

To fire both guns, you have all you need, to control them you need a controller attached to each (id go YN622).

Although I've seen claims that a wireless controller can control gun no. 1 which can then control gun no.2 using the built in master/slave setting. I've also read of people who can't make it work, it's not really designed to, but logically there's no simple reason why it shouldn't.
 
I think im going to go with the yn622 so I can take the 600 and nissin both off camera and do some great creative shots :)
Just to ask - yonguo have another flash trigger rf603 which looks similar to yn622 - whuch would you recommend to take both flashguns off camera? :shrug::thinking:
 
Canon_Chica said:
I think im going to go with the yn622 so I can take the 600 and nissin both off camera and do some great creative shots :)
Just to ask - yonguo have another flash trigger rf603 which looks similar to yn622 - whuch would you recommend to take both flashguns off camera? :shrug::thinking:
Click to expand...
The RF603 (or RF602) only allows dumb triggering. So no HSS or eTTL off camera with those flashes.
 
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