Suggestions for outdoor portrait lighting

I am looking for some suggestions on some lighting equipment to aid my ability to get some better lighting outside.

An example of what I think is some really good lighting on the subject would be something like this.
http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157628863009583/

The face and body are lit well and there are no harsh shadows on the models face. It looks like there were 2 flashes one to the left of the camera and maybe one above the camera pointing towards the model. But I'm not 100% sure.

One of the issues I run into when I am taking pictures outside is a lot of harsh shadows on or around the face. http://i.imgur.com/a6s​xP.jpg. I got maybe 1 or 2 shots of her face fully lit. I got a reflector which seemed to help out a great deal but it made the girl squint her eyes a lot. I also started shooting with my flash for fill flash and that helped but the lighting is very "edgy" even with the flap down. It isn't smooth like the one I linked above.

I think a softbox would help or some type of beauty dish maybe? What would help me out in these situations? I don't want to get a 50"+ softbox as its not economical for me as I don't really take portraits that often and only do it for friends and family. But something to help provide better pictures in these situations would be nice.

I have a 580exii, 7d, various lenses (17-55, 100mm macro, 70-200), reflector.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I think the picture you linked to as an example of good outdoor lighting just used natural light. Perhaps a reflector was used, but it is hard to tell. It may have been taken on a overcast day or perhaps on the shady side of a building. While the lighting on the model is good, the sky looks blown out, ie overexposed.

Generally for outdoor portraits you never want any direct sunlight hitting the face. Either you position the subject in the shade with no hot spots, or you position the subject with the sun 45 deg behind them on one side or the other. If the background is in complete shade too, you probably don't need any light. If the background is in sunlight, you will need flash or strobes to get the illumination on the subject up to the level of the background.

You will usually want to use a "soft" light source so you do not create harsh shadows. A bare flash on camera can be used, but it produces rather flat lighting. This is certainly a place to start.

Getting the flash off camera and using a modifier like an umbrella or medium soft box is better. A 580EX II with a shoot through umbrella or small soft box is not that powerful compared to the sun. You will need to position it 3 or 4 ft from the subject, just out of the frame, to get enough light on the subject to fight with the sun. I have taken lots of portraits outdoors with a shoot through umbrella and usually 2 580EX II. I usually have them on 1/2 power though, so one on full power would have been fine under most conditions. Only occasionally do I need to use the 2 on full power, and that is usually for full length pictures.

With the 7d you could try to use the Canon wireless flash system, but it is tricky to get to work outdoors (it works well indoors). A better solution would be to buy a long E-TTL camera cord from Flash Zebra or OCF. You would need a light stand, umbrella or softbox, and mounting hardware. Outdoors you will need sandbags for the light stand, or, much better, a person to hold the light stand (voice activated light stand). There are cheap wireless triggers that you can use also, but the E-TTL cable would allow you to control the flash from your camera menus and use E-TTL if you are not comfortable with manual flash power, exposure setting.

Hello,
I posted an outdoor lighting tutorial on my website a while back which you might find helpful

www.stansphotos.com > Videos >Tutorials > Lighting tutorial

Mike thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. What would you recommend for a few reputable brands for lighting equipment you mentioned (softbox, umbrella, dish)? When i go to search for this stuff there seems to be millions of brands that range from cheap to thousands. I have trouble distinguishing from a reputable piece of equipment from one that is just cheap or overpriced because it includes a flux capacitor.

Thanks stan. I will check out your video when i get home. Do you hapen to list or name the lighting gear you use in your tutorial? Or give recommendations?

What do you have for lighting at the moment? Anything besides the 580EX II? If not, and you want to use that as your light source, you can move the 580EX II off-camera and use it with a small, portable softbox or beauty dish to give you softer light and better control than having it stuck on-camera.

Here's one possibility for a softbox: http://www.cheetahstan​d.com …38/Cheetah-Qbox-24/Detail

And here's one for a beauty dish: http://www.kaceyenterp​rises.com/?page_id=461

What time of day are you doing these outside shots? In the morning and evening you can get by with a minimal amount of fill to the get the look you want. In the middle of the day it might require a huge amount of light.

StanNJ1 wrote in post #13934734
Hello,
I posted an outdoor lighting tutorial on my website a while back which you might find helpful

www.stansphotos.com > Videos >Tutorials > Lighting tutorial

Stan, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. A very well done and informative video!

Permanently bookmarked!

StanNJ1 wrote in post #13934734
Hello,
I posted an outdoor lighting tutorial on my website a while back which you might find helpful

www.stansphotos.com > Videos >Tutorials > Lighting tutorial

This is a nice tutorial. I'm not a huge fan of HSS, although I have used it. You do say that the flash loses some power when you use HSS, but that is about 2 1/2 f-stops worth of power. When you use HSS it is important to get your flashes as close to the subject as possible, because they don't have that much power, as you did in the video.

I have found the Canon wireless system a little tricky to set up outdoors. The only way I have gotten it to work outdoors is to use a non-firing 580EX II as the master, frequently on a long E-TTL cord so I can position it where it has good visibility to all the sensors on the firing flashes. This is fine for a professional that has multiple 580EX II, but at $450-$500 not very practical for most people.

If you can pose people against an attractive backgrounds that is not so busy, then you do not really need to blur the background and do not need to use HSS or neutral density filters. Certainly a beginner in outdoor lighting should just use f/8 and work on getting correct lighting on the subject relative to the background.

kur1j wrote in post #13935746
Mike thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. What would you recommend for a few reputable brands for lighting equipment you mentioned (softbox, umbrella, dish)? When i go to search for this stuff there seems to be millions of brands that range from cheap to thousands. I have trouble distinguishing from a reputable piece of equipment from one that is just cheap or overpriced because it includes a flux capacitor.

Thanks stan. I will check out your video when i get home. Do you hapen to list or name the lighting gear you use in your tutorial? Or give recommendations?

The cheapest way to start is with a shoot through umbrella. I have always used Westcott umbrellas.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ble_Umbrella_Op​tical.html

One thing to keep in mind is umbrellas don't hold up very well on a windy day, but they are cheap, so replacing them is not too painful. Softboxes are more expensive. You cannot use big softboxes outdoors (too hard to control in any wind). I would keep them 24" and smaller. The Lastolite Ezybox for hot shoe flash are good, but expensive. The Cheetah QBox has a good reputation too and is less expensive. I would not recommend the umbrella style softboxes, like the Westcott Apollo and its clones for use outdoors. I like the Apollo softboxes indoors, but I think they are too fragile to use outdoors.

Also remember the softness of the light depends on the apparent size of the softbox as seen by the subject. If you get a 8" or 10" softbox it has to be very close to the subject to produce light that is "soft".

sdipirro wrote in post #13936230
What do you have for lighting at the moment? Anything besides the 580EX II? If not, and you want to use that as your light source, you can move the 580EX II off-camera and use it with a small, portable softbox or beauty dish to give you softer light and better control than having it stuck on-camera.

Here's one possibility for a softbox: http://www.cheetahstan​d.com …38/Cheetah-Qbox-24/Detail

And here's one for a beauty dish: http://www.kaceyenterp​rises.com/?page_id=461

thank you for the suggestions on equipment. I currently only have the 580 for lighting.

gonzogolf wrote in post #13936253
What time of day are you doing these outside shots? In the morning and evening you can get by with a minimal amount of fill to the get the look you want. In the middle of the day it might require a huge amount of light.

It really depends on when my friends what to do it. That particular picture was taken in the middle of the day (~9am?). The place we were at didn't have much constant shade and it was pretty bright outside so I was fighting the sun the entire time.

StanNJ1 wrote in post #13934734
Hello,
I posted an outdoor lighting tutorial on my website a while back which you might find helpful

www.stansphotos.com > Videos >Tutorials > Lighting tutorial

I watched this and I felt it was some really good information. Unless I missed it in the video it probably would be beneficial to put the lighting gear you used at the end of the video.

kur1j wrote in post #13955532
It really depends on when my friends what to do it. That particular picture was taken in the middle of the day (~9am?). The place we were at didn't have much constant shade and it was pretty bright outside so I was fighting the sun the entire time.

I rather doubt you can get close to that kind of balanced soft fill flash with a single speedlite in daylight hours. You say you dont want a large sofbox, but to do this sort of work in the bright part of the day you need powerful lights and big soft modifiers. size of the modifier directly relates to light softness. your best bet would be to control the time you shoot, stick to evening hours. and buy a bigger modifier like the PLM style large umbrellas.

If I do need strobe shooting portrait outdoors... I would use one strobe...and use the sun as secondary light as fill or as key, or even rim