portrait gear suggestions

[Tyger]

Hey all,

Just wanted to hear from any any portrait shooters here on the forums. I've recenlty been discussing with friends and family about doing portraits for them in the near future and i'm doing some research in what kind of gear I would need to do this.

At the moment I have my Canon digital Rebel XT, a 70-200mm f4 L for
outdoor shots, and i'm looking into getting either a 50mm f1.4, or an 85mm 1.8 for indoor shooting.

So what else would i need? A flash? what kind? the 580EX perhaps?
Backdrops? What sort of lighting equipment should i be looking at for indoor?

Obviously i'll have to work my way up to get all the gear, but what would be a typical set up to get me by for mostly outdoor shooting which i would start doing first?

any toughts and advice would help a great deal,

thanx in advance!

Erm.

[SkipD]

With the 350D, you'd probably find the 50mm focal length better for portrait work than the 85mm. With the 85mm you'd likely have to get too far back from the subject in an indoor setting.

For lighting, there are many solutions. I'd guess that most minimum recommendations would be two flash units with decent (large) diffusers of some sort - either umbrellas or softboxes. Softboxes need more powerful flash units, and are usually built to work on studio type flash units.

If you'd like to look at a line of very cost-effective yet very good studio style flash units (and all the needed accessories), look at www.AlienBees.com. The AlienBees product are sold only through their website. You won't find them in any stores. They are highly recommended by many users, including yours truly.

This forum is chock full of threads discussing lighting techniques, etc. Many good books on the subject are referenced in the threads as well.

[Tyger]

I appreciate the advice Skip and the link, i'll definitely be checking it out.

I guess i could get by with the gear i have plus another lens and the obvious like a tripod and remote for outdoor shots.

thanx again.

[chtgrubbs]

I shoot with a 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM zoom. Not my sharpest lens, but I don't really like excruciatingly sharp portraits anyway. Saves alot of photoshop work. When shooting film I always use a soft-focus filter on the lens, either a Softar 1 or Tiffen SoftEffex 2. I use 4 lights. Two in 2x3 boxes on the same side of the lens, one at 90degrees to the camera and one angled between the first light and the camera. A Westcott Illuminator in Sunlight color provides bounce fill as needed from the opposite side of the main lights. A 16x22" softbox with a grid provides hair light and the 4th light is a background light, sometimes with grid spot or colored gel or both. Backgrounds are usually muslin or canvas or seamless paper for a studio look but often I shoot on location where I have to find or arrange and light a suitable background. I use tripod where possible but sometimes things have to move too fast and I count on the strobe to prevent camera movement blur. When everything works right it looks like this:

[guitarman]

Thats an awesome portrait. About the only thing I can say is its a tad soft for my liking. But thats just me. Other than that. Wow