Please help - Do you use a tripod for on location portrait sessions?

[rachelle14]

I am doing an on-location portrait session this afternoon for a married couple. We are meeting in a park and will then be walking around the city. The shoot is at 6:00 and it’s a cloudy day. In a situation like this, would you bring a tripod? I’m concerned that hand holding my camera and using an fstop that will allow me to get them both in focus is going to result in shutter speeds that will create soft images. I don’t want to bring a tripod because it seems like with a "moving" shoot like this a tripod would be a pain, have you found this to be the case, or worth the bother? Also, what do you find to be the idea F-stop for shooting a couple and achieving proper background blur?

Equipment I will be using is: 20D, 24-70L, Bracket, 550ex

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

[Dermit]

I would not use a tripod. I would probably shoot at f/5.6 to f/8.0 range depending if I was at the 70mm or the 24mm end of that lens. Also depending on the pose. If their faces were both in the same focal plane i might dial aperture to something lower like f/3.5. I would use the aperture and/or ISO to get the shutter speed I thought I might need to counter act motion. Chances are if the shutter is too slow to hand hold the camera it is also too slow to freeze the motion of your subjects.

[René Damkot]

would you bring a tripod?

Yes.
Easy not to use it if not needed. Not so easy to use it if it's not there ;)

[Wilt]

Yes.
Triggered with a radio remote, you can hide the trigger from the subject and catch them with relaxed, natural expressions!
While fine for single portraiture, for groups it is so much easier to walk up and adjust one person or another, and then step just out of the shot and use the radio remote to trigger the shutter.
All without recomposing and refocusing!