Taking portraits?

[SUB1IM388]

Do i need to have reflectors and strobes and shades to take a good portrait? Also do i need to have an external flash if lighting is poor, or can a good picture come from a standard Flash?

[xclusive]

Do i need to have reflectors and strobes and shades to take a good portrait? Also do i need to have an external flash if lighting is poor, or can a good picture come from a standard Flash?

I am no where near a good photographer, in fact I have just bought a DSLR and started teaching myself...what I've found in this short period of time is that no matter how accurately you setup your WB level, using built in flash adds that yellowish/redish glare on ur photos..so I thought, using external flash is necessary for taking good potraits..

Well, I might be completely wrong..hopefully experts here will teach us both :D

[Sports_Dude]

Do i need to have reflectors and strobes and shades to take a good portrait?

No. I've seen many people take excellent shots using natural lighting. It takes lots of practice to use natural lighting to your advanatge.




Also do i need to have an external flash if lighting is poor, or can a good picture come from a standard Flash? It all depends how you define "good" and poor lighting. An external flash would be adequate for a singe person portrait in poor lighting, but defintely would be pushing it for a large group in poor lighting.

[CloudINC00]

on-camera flash can sometimes work depending on what you're using it for. You can defuse it, bounce it off a card upwards to the ceiling, gel it to match the available lighting, etc. Just because its a small tiny light doesn't mean it has to be hard or it has to be your primary light.

But my opinion is this: My lighting investments have gotten me more bang for my buck than my investment into lenses for portraits/people.

[breathless]

OP - Yes. Those things help you solve some common portrait lighting problems. But understand that any piece of equipment will give you a range of possible uses. All have a limitation. No piece of equipment is a solution to all lighting needs. With the tools that you mention, you can create some nice images outdoors and indoors.

Understand, though, "taking good portraits" is quite a broad goal to set with some reflectors and flash. Determine first, the problem you wish to solve. Then, look to find the tool which provides the best solution.

[Dermit]

The definition of a 'good portrait' can vary but most people can agree on one when they see it. When talking about lighting alone most 'good portraits' have a nice soft directional light with a ratio of light to shadow side of the face somewhere around 3:1 or 2:1 depending on taste.

There have been occassions when I have been to everyday places, like a restaurant for example, where I look across the room and see the perfect portrait light naturally falling on a person. Sometimes this light quality and angle is just there and if you had a camera in hand you would get an excellent portrait shot.

But most of the time we need to 'help' the light become ideal, or even artificially create the ideal lighting from scratch. For example if you have a significant amount of indirect light coming in a window near a subject which creates good light on part of the subject but dark shadows on the other part you could use a reflector to get some light back into the shadows.

Of course we can't always choose to shoot only during the day and only next to a big north facing window. So adding our own artificial lighting allows us to shoot anywhere anytime and still be able to create a 'good portrait'.

So the first thing you need to figure out is how you want your portraits to look. You need to look at other people's work and figure out how to emulate what they are doing. Reverse engineer how they light their subjects. Then you will learn what you need to have to be able to recreate it.