What is the best kind of lighting?

[acrephoto]

What is the best kind of lighting for doing portraits? and maybe some on location. Looking for a lot of input here because I'm going to be buying VERY soon! I shoot with a 300D.

[motophoto]

the sun :lol:

it all depends on what you would like your end product to be

give us a little more detail of exactly what you want and we may be able to suggest what is best for that situation.

[DaveG]

What is the best kind of lighting for doing portraits? and maybe some on location. Looking for a lot of input here because I'm going to be buying VERY soon! I shoot with a 300D.

Believe it or not I prefer to use window light to illuminate location portraits. I do this all the time for wedding portraits where I can't take the time - nor do I have the space, to set up studio lighting.

I use a tripod of course and have the bride sit on a kitchen type chair. This makes her sit up more than a more comfortable chair would and yet she sits more comfortably on a chair than a posing stool. It's also one less thing that I have to bring.

I use the window light as my light source. I mention this as many photographers interpret window lighting as meaning that the window is somehow in the photograph, and that's not so. I have the chair turned so it's pointing directly at the window. I have her sit in the chair with her feet pointed at the window. I'm over by the wall near the window at this point, say about 45 degrees from being directly in front of her. Then I have her turn her torso and head towards me, so that only part of her face is towards the light, and she's looking into the lens. This new head position creates the lighting ratio.

Often I'll set up a small table with flowers and candles on it, and put it behind her. This makes the shot sparkle and it's also to prevent the background from looking like I used a cheap no-seam backdrop.

Every so often I'll use a silver reflector on a stand to push a bit of light back into the subject's face. If it's a more informal portrait I'll turn the chair around and use the back of the chair to support the clients arms. In any case you can play with this forever, or until the sun goes down!

If this sounds too simple, I think it is too. I always think that I should be working harder. What I sometimes forget is that all those studio strobes, softboxes and such, are just studying to be indirect window light.

Your costs for this will be minimal. A good tripod if you don't have one, and perhaps one of those fold-into-round reflectors that B&H sells. They have a zippered cover so you can select white, silver, gold or black; and with a support, if not a stand it's well under $100 US.

If you want to see a sample email me and I'll send a sample or two of this lighting.

[Vegas Poboy]

For in Studio work I prefer low key lighting & use gels to change the color of the background.

For outdoor shots I prefer sunny with a light overcast & use fill flash to put some sparkles within the eyes.

Overall it all depends on what you or the customer wants. Keep notes on whatever you shoot so if you have to duplicate the shot you know where to start, Location, time of day etc. I also go thru alot of mags and cut out pics I like and try to dup those. They're plenty of books on the market I usally sit up @ Borders and see which ones has the best layouts.

[acrephoto]

I'm pretty much looking for suggestions for shooting in studio aswell as on location wedding shots.

[DaveG]

I'm pretty much looking for suggestions for shooting in studio aswell as on location wedding shots.

You'll need at least two studio flash heads. Either two monolights or two heads attached to a power supply. These heads will need to be bounced into an umbrella or through a soft box.

The Alien Bees have been warmly received and look like a good economical solution for a strobe purchase. There are tens of different strobes available so you'd have to do some research. Unless you are going to be shooting hundreds of portraits - say school photography - then there's not a lot of advantage in buying the more expensive stobes.

In any case you set up one flash at a 45 degree angle to the subject. It can actually go anywhere but this is a classic portrait set up. This light is the MAIN or KEY light. You'll need a flash meter to measure the output of this flash and you should meter it now.

Then you set up a second light and it must be within 20 degrees of the camera. This is the fill light. The fill light's power should be set so that it's almost one stop less powerful than the fill.

Without going into the long explanation, if this is the case then you've achieved a 1:3 lighting ratio. Any film or digital camera has the latitude to handle this kind of ratio. You will get highlights that aren't burned out, as well as shadows that retain detail.

As finances permit you can add flashes for hair lights and background lights and so forth. But every portrait comes down to the main and the fill.

[Tom W]

I'm pretty much looking for suggestions for shooting in studio aswell as on location wedding shots.

You'll need at least two studio flash heads. Either two monolights or two heads attached to a power supply. These heads will need to be bounced into an umbrella or through a soft box.

The Alien Bees have been warmly received and look like a good economical solution for a strobe purchase. There are tens of different strobes available so you'd have to do some research. Unless you are going to be shooting hundreds of portraits - say school photography - then there's not a lot of advantage in buying the more expensive stobes.

In any case you set up one flash at a 45 degree angle to the subject. It can actually go anywhere but this is a classic portrait set up. This light is the MAIN or KEY light. You'll need a flash meter to measure the output of this flash and you should meter it now.

Then you set up a second light and it must be within 20 degrees of the camera. This is the fill light. The fill light's power should be set so that it's almost one stop less powerful than the fill.

Without going into the long explanation, if this is the case then you've achieved a 1:3 lighting ratio. Any film or digital camera has the latitude to handle this kind of ratio. You will get highlights that aren't burned out, as well as shadows that retain detail.

As finances permit you can add flashes for hair lights and background lights and so forth. But every portrait comes down to the main and the fill.

Dave, sometimes I think that I should just search for your posts. I'm gaining valuable information here, even though I didn't ask the original question. :)

[defordphoto]

Dave is the FLashMaster for sure. :)

[DaveG]

Dave is the FLashMaster for sure. :)

Yeah well the flash master said this: "The fill light's power should be set so that it's almost one stop less powerful than the fill." and of course I should have said " ... one stop less powerful than the MAIN (not fill)."

[Tom W]

Dave is the FLashMaster for sure. :)

Yeah well the flash master said this: "The fill light's power should be set so that it's almost one stop less powerful than the fill." and of course I should have said " ... one stop less powerful than the MAIN (not fill)."

But that's not going to be a problem when one has only one flash and a window. Well, yes, it is a problem, but the window will be the main and the shoe-mount will serve as fill. Maybe.

I have lots of film (and I hate to use that word here). I will subject her to a little experimentation. I will bracket her. I will take 200 pictures that day, plus what I shoot with the little camera. My sister will HATE me by the time the wedding is over, but that might allow me to spend more time in the Tennessee mountains and less time in Florida where she and her husband-to-be reside. :)

[Sunshine]

I have to comment on the window lighting. I don't have much technical knowledge yet, however I took a portrait of my son with lighting from the window. I am still in awe over how beautiful the picture came out. This was with my film EOS before I bought my 10D. Compared to the professional portrait with the studio lighting, my shot is so much more beautiful. I do have one question. Can anyone suggest what type of flash would be suitable for macro photography? Especially for flowers.

[robertwgross]

Can anyone suggest what type of flash would be suitable for macro photography? Especially for flowers.

Ring flash.

---Bob Gross---

[Cal Maier]

What is the best kind of lighting for doing portraits? and maybe some on location. Looking for a lot of input here because I'm going to be buying VERY soon! I shoot with a 300D.
There is some very helpful info here and I won't bother adding any more how to hints, but you could consider a battery operated light system such as Lumedyne, Quantum, or Norman. These lights are very popular with a lot of wedding photogs and will also do nicely in a small studio/portrait setup.

The advantage of a system like this is you can use it in any location, as you don't need any AC. I have an older Norman 200B System with two power packs and heads and it is super for location work as it is small, light, and I'm not tied down to shooting only locations that I have access to AC power.....something to ponder.

One more thing that you may not have thought about, but the 300D does not have a PC sync output, so firing external strobes will require either a hotshoe/pc sync adapter or a wireless transmitter/rec'vr, the latter being the nicest option 'cause you eliminate the cable between the camera and the strobe.....one more thing to ponder.

Cal Maier
CPS 432

[acrephoto]

All you people are awesome, thanks for all the great advice. Should make me decision a lot easier.

[chris.bailey]

I'm pretty much looking for suggestions for shooting in studio aswell as on location wedding shots.

You'll need at least two studio flash heads. Either two monolights or two heads attached to a power supply. These heads will need to be bounced into an umbrella or through a soft box.

The Alien Bees have been warmly received and look like a good economical solution for a strobe purchase. There are tens of different strobes available so you'd have to do some research. Unless you are going to be shooting hundreds of portraits - say school photography - then there's not a lot of advantage in buying the more expensive stobes.

In any case you set up one flash at a 45 degree angle to the subject. It can actually go anywhere but this is a classic portrait set up. This light is the MAIN or KEY light. You'll need a flash meter to measure the output of this flash and you should meter it now.

Then you set up a second light and it must be within 20 degrees of the camera. This is the fill light. The fill light's power should be set so that it's almost one stop less powerful than the fill.

Without going into the long explanation, if this is the case then you've achieved a 1:3 lighting ratio. Any film or digital camera has the latitude to handle this kind of ratio. You will get highlights that aren't burned out, as well as shadows that retain detail.

As finances permit you can add flashes for hair lights and background lights and so forth. But every portrait comes down to the main and the fill.

Good advice for a 'work every time' portrait. Just to add tuppence, you should consider a flash meter with a flat disc receptor (?) rather than a dome if you want to get the ratio right. The other classic advice is that the effective size of the main light should be as big or bigger than what you are trying to light. A normal brolly is fine for head and shoulders but if you need to evenly illuminate full length you need something a lot lot bigger. I use a pair of 63" fire through brollies that I sit one on top of the other i.e. two flash heads mounted one above the other with a brolly on each. With big light boxes or brollies you can break the rules as to placement as the light will wrap around a lot

[chris.bailey]

I'm pretty much looking for suggestions for shooting in studio aswell as on location wedding shots.

You'll need at least two studio flash heads. Either two monolights or two heads attached to a power supply. These heads will need to be bounced into an umbrella or through a soft box.

The Alien Bees have been warmly received and look like a good economical solution for a strobe purchase. There are tens of different strobes available so you'd have to do some research. Unless you are going to be shooting hundreds of portraits - say school photography - then there's not a lot of advantage in buying the more expensive stobes.

In any case you set up one flash at a 45 degree angle to the subject. It can actually go anywhere but this is a classic portrait set up. This light is the MAIN or KEY light. You'll need a flash meter to measure the output of this flash and you should meter it now.

Then you set up a second light and it must be within 20 degrees of the camera. This is the fill light. The fill light's power should be set so that it's almost one stop less powerful than the fill.

Without going into the long explanation, if this is the case then you've achieved a 1:3 lighting ratio. Any film or digital camera has the latitude to handle this kind of ratio. You will get highlights that aren't burned out, as well as shadows that retain detail.

As finances permit you can add flashes for hair lights and background lights and so forth. But every portrait comes down to the main and the fill.

Good advice for a 'work every time' portrait. Just to add tuppence, you should consider a flash meter with a flat disc receptor (?) rather than a dome if you want to get the ratio right. The other classic advice is that the effective size of the main light should be as big or bigger than what you are trying to light. A normal brolly is fine for head and shoulders but if you need to evenly illuminate full length you need something a lot lot bigger. I use a pair of 63" fire through brollies that I sit one on top of the other i.e. two flash heads mounted one above the other with a brolly on each. With big light boxes or brollies you can break the rules as to placement as the light will wrap around a lot

[DaveG]

I have a flat diffuser for my Minolta IVf but I rarely use it. I measure each strobe individually so the dome diffuser works fine. I can see your point and if I had to (for some reason) fire all the strobes while just trying to meter one, then the flat diffuser would come in handy.

After I have the ratios worked out I fire them all and measure them together, but it's more to make sure that the slaves are firing than anything else - except with transparency film or digital capture.

With B&W or colour neg film you can use pretty much any exposure you want: What the fill is putting out, what the main is, or split the difference. But with transparency (slide) film or digital, I always expose at the combination of the two flashes since neither slide film nor digital capture will tolerate overexposure.