Outdoor Senior Photos - Lighting

MDalby · March 5, 2009

I have not done many portraits before. I really only have done gym work for sports in the past.

Currently I only have a SB-800 and a White Lightning flash. I have a beat up umbrella that I have never really used but I don't currently ahve a stand.

I have to take the photos outdoors. If I were to get ONE thing for helping on the lighting for senior photos, what should I get? I was thinking of a Fong.

http://store.garyfonginc.com/licl.html

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

MD

erson83 · March 5, 2009

Not a pro...but I would reccomend an omni bounce with a flash bracket. I know you said one thing, but I'm quite certain you could get the both for under $50

jeffreaux2 · March 5, 2009

MDalby wrote:

I have not done many portraits before. I really only have done gym work for sports in the past.

Currently I only have a SB-800 and a White Lightning flash. I have a beat up umbrella that I have never really used but I don't currently ahve a stand.

I have to take the photos outdoors. If I were to get ONE thing for helping on the lighting for senior photos, what should I get? I was thinking of a Fong.

http://store.garyfonginc.com/licl.html

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

MD

Ill make two suggestions instead of one.

I highly reccomend shooting outdoor photos in the shade....and using a tiny bit of flash for fill. The sb800 mounted in the shoe will suffice for this. The flash unit carries a color temp that closely resembles that of daylight and will be much warmer than the ambient light in outdoor shade. For that reason, I reccomend a set of Phoxle flashmatch flash gells. They are super simple to use, and the lightest of the blue gels is perfect for shady conditions. I use these and set the white balance in camera to "cloudy". I wont shoot without them. Off camera flash, stands, umbrellas.....may only add difficulty to a form of photography that you already...admittedly...are not familiar with. Keep it simple.....gear wise....and be sure to dial that flash power WAY back. No new shadows introduced by the flash is what you are looking for.

My second suggestion is a reflector....a white one. I use foam core sheets. These are available in the office/school supply section at walmart for a few dollars. Poster board size. If your shady location has some nearby sunlight, it can be bounced in onto your subject .

I own a Fong "cloud" lightsphere and use it indoors all the time. I have been very pleased with the results. I have used it some outdoors....but prefer a bare flash outdoors. Since I use only a minimal amount of flash outdoors....for fill....there are no shadows created that need to be softened. In addition, the Fong produces ....less than pleasant....results outdoors when the camera is in the verticle orientation without a flash bracket. Add to that the fact that it will be eating up light...er and batteries....and I just leave it at home for outdoor shoots. I also have a stofen omni-bounce. Indoors, it loses hands down to the lightsphere and I really have no use for it other than macro work. I have....so far....succeeded in skirting around the need to use a flash bracket.

Remember as well that natural light can produce beautiful portraits. Put your fast glass to good use, and don't be afraid to up the ISO a bit if you need it.

MDalby · March 5, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

My second suggestion is a reflector....a white one. I use foam core sheets. These are available in the office/school supply section at walmart for a few dollars. Poster board size. If your shady location has some nearby sunlight, it can be bounced in onto your subject .

Jeff,

Thank you for the great advice.

I am having a hard time visualizing the set up of the foam core sheet to get the reflection. So, if I can find shade, and if I have shadows, I would reflect the light in on that side? Is there a photo online with a sample of what you are referring to?

Thanks,

MD

MDalby · March 5, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

....and be sure to dial that flash power WAY back. No new shadows introduced by the flash is what you are looking for.

Jeff,

How do you determine the right mix for exposure from the flash and the ISO? Should I just put the flash at 1/4 power and adjust ISO accordingly?

Given my glass options in my sig, do you recommend the 50mm f/1.4 or the 35-70mm f/2.8.

MDalby · March 5, 2009

For those that are interested, here is a link to the Phoxle Flash Match Gels.

http://stores.phoxlestore.com/-strse-2/Phoxle-Flash-Match-Filter/Detail.bok

jeffreaux2 · March 5, 2009

MDalby wrote:

Jeff,

How do you determine the right mix for exposure from the flash and the ISO? Should I just put the flash at 1/4 power and adjust ISO accordingly?

Given my glass options in my sig, do you recommend the 50mm f/1.4 or the 35-70mm f/2.8.

I set my exposure for the ambient light and then add in a bit of flash...carefull not to introduce shadows from the flash. Too much is going to look worse than none at all. Use high speed synch and Flash exposure compensation. Use the lowest possible ISO to give you a hand holdable shutter speed for your selected lens. Aperature for me is usually F2.8 to F4.

Manual camera settings...and auto flash...minus flash exposure compensation. I commonly use as low as -3 stops FEC.

Any of those lenses would be fine....and I reccomend the 70-200 as well.

Avoid wide angle...short focal lengths and their distorting tendencies.

Reflected light only

Id offer other examples, but my site is inaccessable right now......C'mon smugmug!

MDalby · March 5, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I reccomend a set of Phoxle flashmatch flash gells. They are super simple to use, and the lightest of the blue gels is perfect for shady conditions. I use these and set the white balance in camera to "cloudy".

Jeff,

I use an Expo Disc for my white balance. I shouldn't use the expo disc in this scenario?

Scott_Quier · March 5, 2009

MDalby wrote:

Jeff,

I use an Expo Disc for my white balance. I shouldn't use the expo disc in this scenario?

Under these conditions, when you set the WB to "Cloudy", your shots tend to be a little warmer - and Jeff likes them that way (I remember him saying so - I do!

).

If you are interested in "true" and "correct" WB, then shooting a gray card would be my first choice. Reason: 'Cause you have a two or more different color light sources going and that just makes it hard for something like a ExpoDisk. Have your model/senior hold a gray card at or near the face - now you know what the sum of all the light is doing at that point. In post, of course, you can use that as a starting point and modify the WB to taste.

jeffreaux2 · March 5, 2009

MDalby wrote:

Jeff,

I use an Expo Disc for my white balance. I shouldn't use the expo disc in this scenario?

I wouldnt.....arent you supposed to point it at a light source?

Even in shade the light source is the sun....yet a blue color cast is present in shade.

Thats why I gel the flash blue to match. In my experience, the "cloudy" setting gives a nice "in camera" representation of the finished image. I shoot RAW.....and so may...or may not ...adjust the white balance farther in my RAW editor.....to taste.

A white(or grey as Scott suggested) target in the photo for reference is nice....but I uaually find that method to produce a WB that is too cool for my tastes.

divamum · March 5, 2009

Inspired by Jeff's lovely photos, I recently took some shots with reflected light and had the same questions you did - HOW to use it?

Here's one thread which really helped me out understanding all this better:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=112326&highlight=reflector

Also, as far as "how" (which was one of my questions too)

Put the subject in shade with the sun either coming from behind or to the side of them, you let the light hit the reflector, and then angle THAT until the hot spot is on their face. It only took a few minutes practicing to get the hang of it (but I WOULD advise practicing first so you feel like you know what you're doing

Here's one of the shots I came up with. You can see from her hair that the light was coming from more or less behind and to her right, and I used a piece of dollar store foamboard covered in foil to bounce it back (on reflection - whoops, no pun intended! - I think I probably would have preferred the look of white, but I was convinced at the time that I needed the most reflection possible, so I went with the silver one). She's actually standing under a tree (although I cloned out a distracting branch) so it was pretty much backlight-through-the-branches reflected back onto her - no flash was used with this at all.

Have fun!

jeffreaux2 · March 5, 2009

Here is some discussion about the "tips" article I wrote....

http://www.photographycorner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78259

jeffreaux2 · March 5, 2009

...

and here is another thread which actually promted the article....

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=85976

a couple 70-200mm examples

I truely think that your primary problem won't be the technical aspect of getting a good exposure....or which settings etc to choose....after all....we all know that shooting sports requires a special set of skills that usually are used under less than idea lighting conditions. You have the gear and knowhow to use it. Rather than that, I am thinking that the posing and compositions in general will be a bit alien to you since you primarily shoot sports...where your subject is unposed....and you have to make the most of it compositionally. Your local library may be a good recource for portrait and posing books to browse.

MDalby · March 5, 2009

Wow... Lots of great advice here. Thank you al lfor your help.

I will take some time to read and test.

I appreciate your sharing with a rook.

MD

Outdoor Senior Photos - Lighting

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