Natural light fan looking for flash advice

I have been trying hard to stick with ambient light, mostly in my recording studio shoots I like to play with wide apertures but as I seem to be doing more and more magazine shoots in these situations - and time is usually limited - I am thinking about using a simple flash to boost the lighting and get pictures faster when needed plus have an extra way to add creativity to my pictures.

Many of the studio shoots are in places with dark or darkish fabric walls. They also tend to have quite harsh spots (an example posted below).

Having kept away from flash units I'm wondering if the lower power flash units will offer enough boost or creativity, eg, ability to adjust flash output? I'd rather not keep upgrading so wondered if anyone here can offer advice on a flash unit suitable for the 5D in these situations.

Thanks in advance

Edited to add, I tend to shoot quite wide in many situations, eg, 16mm, so this is a major factor.

maybe you could use a reflector to light up the guys face.

Yea I know it doesn't answer your question. but It could make a difference

I would recommend reading through strobist.
I think a shot like that could be easily enhanced with a couple of off camera strobes. With practice, set up time could only be a few minutes and would add a lot of creative control.

echo wrote in post #2883003
I have been trying hard to stick with ambient light, mostly in my recording studio shoots I like to play with wide apertures but as I seem to be doing more and more magazine shoots in these situations - and time is usually limited - I am thinking about using a simple flash to boost the lighting and get pictures faster when needed plus have an extra way to add creativity to my pictures.

Many of the studio shoots are in places with dark or darkish fabric walls. They also tend to have quite harsh spots (an example posted below).

Having kept away from flash units I'm wondering if the lower power flash units will offer enough boost or creativity, eg, ability to adjust flash output? I'd rather not keep upgrading so wondered if anyone here can offer advice on a flash unit suitable for the 5D in these situations.

Thanks in advance

Edited to add, I tend to shoot quite wide in many situations, eg, 16mm, so this is a major factor.

This is an example of a 2 minute shoot where I had to grab the shot then leave. Turning the ISO up to 1600 and shooting at f/2.8 on 24-70L. This demonstrates the lighting conditions in a better studio, many are worse.

The first thing that I'll say about using flash is that one flash is just not going to do it, assuming that it starts off at the camera position. When I look at the shot that you showed above the first thing that I noticed was the highlight on his hair. That was ambient light in your shot but you can create that with a flash on a stand behind or to one side of him. If you don't have that type of light then the shot is very flat and the kind of "flash" shot you hate and are afraid of creating.

To get good lighting when I'm doing this type of shoot I prefer to use the Canon wireless system. I use one 550EX flash as the Master/Fill and one 420EX as the Slave/Main. Once in awhile I'll use a second 420 as a hairlight or a second Main. In any case these are very portable lights. They aren't particularly cheap but most people will want to own a 550/580 anyway, and adding a 420/430 won't break the bank.

I've written extensively on this site about the Canon wireless and there is probably a way to review those rants if you want too.

The attached shot has a 550 as the Master/Fill and two 420's as Main's, one on both sides of the subject.

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Many thanks for the pointers. In situations where I am shooting video and therefore have a little more time, I set up a few tungsten lights, translucent/diffuser brolly roughly 25 degrees from camera facing the subject and a light 25 degrees opposite behind to give pop and a reflector to fill if needed. This has given a nice boost, they're only 500 watts and give only a stop or two gain but very useful and have given excellent results with pictures - and you can instantly see the effects when the lights are moved around, add gels etc added but flash is a step in to the unknown and I want to keep the 'feel' of ambient light.

In the situation show above and where there is hardly any time I need to boost the light with a very portable system so the wireless flash setup sounds like the route I should be looking at. I have the feeling that this may get more expensive than I first thought but if you're going to do it right....

Anyway, thanks for the pointers, very helpful Cheers!

Mike