Outdoor portrait shoot advice.

I have an outdoor shoot on Monday and was wondering if I can get some advice on lighting. Styles, techniques, proper light placement etc. Anything helps and is appreciated. I have at my disposal, two alien bee 800 and a canon speedlite 600.

An easy set up would be to keep the sun at their back and use one light (in a soft box) as a fill light. If you want flat lighting have the fill light close to directly in front of them (easy set up and flattering for girls). If you want more shadows do the normal above the head, down at 45 degrees and 45 degrees to the person. (loop lighting). when you can, use the sun as a back light or flare. Use your lens hood to keep the flare out of your images. Place the sun directly behind their head is always a nice shot, or sun off to one side to get some flare.

Shoot later in the day, the last 3 hours of the day. If the skies are clear, shoot in the shade, be careful of having too bright of a background as this can draw attention away from the person, unless that is the look you are going for.

You can always use two lights and not rely on the sun as the kicker, but often out in the field, the one light is a nice simple set up.

You can shoot at about F/4, 1/200 with an ISO of 100. Set the speed light to around 18-1/4 power. This is a good starting point, but it depends on your style and aperture.

Outdoor shoot is way too vague to give much in the way of meaningful advice. What time, what subject, for what purpose. As mentioned anove using the sun as a rim from behind and using a flash fro frint near the camera axis is a great technique but it would nelp if we had more info.