will a speedlite 430ex be ok for baby portraits

[iron maiden]

I have had a three people ask me to take some photo's of the baby's,
i have a speedlite 430ex,
will that be ok for taking the photos.
or will i have to go and buy softboxes etc,

i am doing these photo's for free as i know the people,

any comments i will be very gratful,

iron

 

[Kemble3]

The 430 would be fine for your baby photos. If you wanted to get a little more creative then you could get a small softbox to fit onto the speedite or go OCF and get a larger SB.

 

[HoppyUK]

You can do good baby pictures with window light and a reflector.

Or use your flash but bounce it of ceiling/wall, plus reflector.

Or get a cheap shoot-through umbrella and adapter bracket on a cheap stand (Konig, Amazon or 7DayShop). Plus reflector.

I guess you will need a reflector then But you can make one easily enough with a sheet of carboard 2x3ft, white on one side and with kitchen foil on the other.

And you will need some way of triggering the off camera flash (assuming your camera isn't one of the newer models with on-board mastering - 7D, 60D, 600D). An extension cord will do that, and you can get longer ones quite cheaply, and a dedicated cord retains full E-TTL functions. But most people go with a basic manual radio trigger, like Yongnuo RF-602 at £40 a set, and forego E-TTL. You can chimp the power setting and exposure easily enough off the LCD/histogram with blinkies enabled (highlight over exposure warning, in the menu).