First Portrait Pics advice

Will be doing a portrait of my 2 children & my niece so just done some test pics with the background I will be using.

First one is shot with a Canon 50mm f1.4 set at f2.8 on an EOS 550D in AV mode. I have bounced the light off a sloping roof to the right.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

The light looks pretty good here but shooting flash in Av mode will invariably cause issues with exposure. Assuming it is an ETTL flash. If it is ETTL move the camera to manual, select your ISO, f-stop and shutter speed and let the flash do it's thing. If it's not ETTL do the same thing but manually adjust the flash. I believe it will give you much more consistent exposures.

Posing - pull him away from the BG a bit and turn his shoulders. Make sure he is looking at the camera when the shutter is pressed.

Hi there, many thanks for your reply. I have done the 3 of them together now & had to go, as you say, into Manual as I wasn't getting the shutter speed I wanted. The light is a full E-TTL II so just had it on auto. Shot my pics with a 24-105 L on a tripod but forgot to switch the IS off so the end results were a little soft.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Not bad at all, and a good looking group.

I would pull them a bit further away for the BG if you can, you are still getting a lot of shadow camera left. And as an FYI - shutter speed when shooting flash isn't all that critical since the flash will control the exposure - unless you have a lot of ambient light. The flash will be faster than any shutter speed you can select.

I would also suggest using the flash white balance setting on the camera.