Protraits outside advice

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snapsnap

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Dan
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Hi when taking protraits outside.

Do most use flash with umbrella. I have a sony 58am and was wondering to put it on stand with the umbrella adapter and shot through?

Does this sound right.

Plan get people in the shade if sunny or back towards sun.
Under expose by a stop and let the flash add the extra exposure to the people?

Does this sound right or am i going in wrong direction.

Thanks In advance
 
Sounds about right in theory :) In practise you might need a lot of flash power though, depending on the ambient level.

For fill-in outdoors, when the flash component is secondary, direct on-camera usually works quite well.

What are you trying to achieve? If it's studio style lighting outdoors, theory is one thing and practise quite another.
 
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yep that's about right. Takes a bit of practice but thats the general idea.

You don't have to underexpose your background, it does make the subjects pop from it a bit more if you do though. You can underexpose by as much as you want, about a stop will look fairly natural though and the more you want to underexpose the background, and the brighter the light, the more flash power you will need. Sometimes you can lose the umbrella or softbox too pick up an extea stop of light, and it still looks OK if it is directional (off camera).
 
You also need a set of trigger/receiver. The ambient/flash ratio and direction all play different roles in giving you varied looks, so don't be afraid to keep experimenting on scene. And if you are using an umblrella, watch the wind (weight your stand down with your camera bag, and anything else you can use to plant it. It goes down ever so easily in a bit of wind.
 
Try just using a reflector with the ambient and see how you get on.

If you're looking to overpower the ambient or a more contrasty look then stobes will be your friend :)
 
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