Wanting to improve my shots!

I'll be doing a shoot this Sunday with a Couple and their 17 month old. Location will be out doors at a nice blueberry farm. It has a big shaded area with seating, logs, etc.

I also have a reflector and 580EX II flash. Still not comfortable with the flash yet and wondering how/if it can help me here. Any tips or examples would be appreciated.

The shaded area is going to help you a lot, so take your pictures in the shade to keep things simple. Ask someone to be your "test subject" and take a few shots without flash to see if you're happy with the results. If you think the images could use more light then put that 580 on your camera's hot shoe, point it up, pull out the built-in white bounce card, and fire away. The light will bounce off the white card and will hit your subjects with a softer light.

The reflector can be used to reflect ambient light (e.g. sunlight) to the subjects if you take pictures outside of the shade and need some fill light.

I very much dislike shooting out in the open with sun directly on the subject. Shaded areas are perfect if you can find the right spot you can get some nice catch lights in the eyes. Have your subject look slightly up, this will help.

If you look at my website, 99% of the pictures that are taken outdoors are taken without a flash. The location you mentioned sounds like a great one.

AvailableLight offered some great advice if you intend on using flash/reflectors. I'd probably use a reflector before a flash. Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Thanks for the input guys. Here are the results

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1204903

I think I actually used flash on all but the last pic. But, even the flash ones turned out well I think?

Hi Valencia ,
This is nice photos , It is really nice photo
http://i1170.photobuck​et.com …alenciaphoto/IM​G_9330.png