Portable Flash Portraits

I've always been interested in doing portraits but I dont have the money for studio style lights. I've been looking at silver umbrellas for my two flashes, do you think that this would produce quality light for portraits.

and if possible could you post examples of portraits with a similar style setup?

Thanks
Nate

It wouldn't hurt though then you'll start investing in stands etc. etc. etc. At that point, I think you might be better off with studio lights.
One very inexpensive thing that can make a huge difference in you work outdoors during the day is a reflector or two. You can even use a piece of foam board or white cardboard.

my only problem with getting studio strobes is that they very portable and also they always need a large power source.

A pair of Alien Bee strobes with the vagabond power supply isn't very much to carry. Unless your climbing a mountain.

When a power pack is introduced in addition to 2 strobes it gets alittle pricey for me considering im 16 and have no job

Just go the Strobist way; multiple small strobes with Pocket Wizards on light stands, with umbrellas and such

What two flash units do you already have (make and model)?

That is where we need to start.

Enjoy! Lon

I have a sunpak 383 and a very old sunpak auto 26dx, im considering buying a newer flash to replace the old 26dx. I've been very consistently reading the strobist blog for the past year, and that is were my idea for the umbrellas came from but im concerned about having enough power and a good enough quality(softness) of light to take good indoor and outdoor portraits.

For off camera manual flash the 383 is a great start.

I am not familiar with the 26dx. Is there any sort of sync port and can you set manual power levels? Does it have about the same power as the 383?

I am just trying to understand what you have in order to formulate a reasonable approach.

Does your 26DX look like this on the back, with manual power levels:
http://cgi.ebay.com …egoryZ48549QQcm​dZViewItem

If so you are in good shape.

You will need (the low cost approach):

A couple of umbrella adapters (also called umbrella swivels)
You can start out using a couple of your tripods as lightstands, later you can get a couple of real light stands.
A couple of white umbrellas (for pics of humans, white is likely better than silver)
A PC based optical slave for the 383 (to plug into the short cord that comes with the 383(
A hotshoe to sync adapter for the Sunpak 26DX (if it does not have a sync port)
A 5M or 15 foot cord to run from your camera to the hotshoe sync adapter on the 26DX
A camera hotshoe to PC adapter for you 350XT so you can plug in a sync cord.

With careful shopping you should be able to get all this for about $125.00 or so.

Enjoy! Lon

thats exactly what i have, except for mine is for canon( the one on ebay) and there are no sync ports. currently im just using an optical trigger for that and an ebay wireless trigger for the 383.also i think the guide number is 120

also remember that im on a pretty tight budget right now( like $250-300 maximum)

604Shooter wrote in post #3463312
thats exactly what i have, except for mine is for canon( the one on ebay) and there are no sync ports. currently im just using an optical trigger for that and an ebay wireless trigger for the 383.also i think the guide number is 120

Well it looks like you are set except for a couple of umbrella adapters, and a couple of umbrellas.

This should be about $75.00 or so.

Enjoy! Lon

Well the order i had planned out was:

2xImpact umbrella adapters
2xImpact 8' Light stands
2xWescott soft silver 45" umbrellas

TOTAL=$137

Do you think that white umbrellas will provide enough light for outdoor portraits?

Also do you think that they should be shoot throughs or bounce umbrellas

Why don't you buy Alienbees, and about power, use AC plugs, no need for power packs for a while unless you go outdoor or on location for shooting.

The thing is that i want to go outdoors and on location, so then the alien bees get too expensive.

604Shooter wrote in post #3465185
The thing is that i want to go outdoors and on location, so then the alien bees get too expensive.

I see.
Get 2x 580EX then and you will be all done.