Portrait Photography Questions!

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CaelansMummy

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Hi guys, I am very much a beginner and I have just started advertising for people to come and have their photo taken for free so it gives me some practice and hopefully if they are pleased with the results then they may even recommend me!

So as we all have to start at the bottom, all I have is:

Canon 550D body
Canon 50mm 1.8 (has a particle in the glass so I get lens flare)
Sigma 50mm 1.4 ex dg hsm on the way!!
Sigma 70-300
Tripod
Backdrop stand

As you can see I don't have an awful lot of gear!! :lol: And I'm wondering if my next purchase should be a flash gun?! :thinking:

I will mainly be doing outdoor photography if I can anyway. I do have some backdrop material but they aren't big enough so I could get something to replace them with if needed but I would much rather be outdoors with the client.

I rarely ever use the flash on my camera, but I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing! :lol:

Any advice would be much appreciated! :thumbs:
 
For your outdoor shoots a flash would be very useful, however you could go down the natural light route and then I'd suggest getting a descent reflector.

Ian
 
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Brilliant thankyou both for the advice. I think it may have to be a flash gun for now considering I don't drive at the moment. I don't know anything about lighting so are all flash guns remote? Or do I need to look for a particular one?! I feel awful asking so many questions :bonk:
 
With your 550D, it doesn't have a wireless transmitter built in so you would have to get either wireless flash trigger and suitable flash or cabled trigger from the hotshoe to the flash if you want to use remote (off camera) flash. You could just get a hotshoe flash to go on top of your camera for the extra light.
Have a look at the NISSIN range of flashguns as they are very similar in power and functions of the canon ones but around half the price. If you get more than one you can set up one on camera to activate the other one off camera. Best bet to start with is to find a good book on lighting and see what advice that gives you.
 
CaelansMummy said:
And I'm wondering if my next purchase should be a flash gun?! :thinking:
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Just my opinion, but if you're offering a service to the public, paid for or not, I'd make the next purchase public liability insurance.
 
With your shortest lens being 50mm on a DX sensor'd body you are going to need a large area to be able to take 3/4 length or longer shots, this may limit you quite severely, more so if you are asked to shoot a group, I would leave the flash for now and budget for a wider lens, something that goes out to at least 21mm, doesn't have to be top notch, but certainly something you are likely to need.
 
dod said:
Just my opinion, but if you're offering a service to the public, paid for or not, I'd make the next purchase public liability insurance.
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I know I will need to sort something out but as I will mostly be shooting friends or acquaintances then I think I can last a little longer. I am only available 1 or two days a week at a push until the children are in full time education anyway and my youngest is only 18 months! :lol:

I am a stay at home mum because we can't afford childcare and I want to get some practice before the children are in school so when it comes to looking for paid work then I have something I would like to aim for. I have only ever worked in retail and I really don't want to go back to that, although if I have to then I will of course do so and possibly do photography on the side.
 
Definately invest in a flash.

Imagine the scenario; you have a beautiful model on the beach in front of a stunning sunset. You want to capture this scene but without a flash (or other fill light) you will either get the model exposed correctly with a blown out sky or a silhouette of the model against a perfectly exposed sky as all the light is behind him/her. Doh! This is where a flash gun comes into it's own, lighting the subject so both the model and the background appear correctly exposed as one.
 
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100% get a 3in1 reflector, I have a flashgun but try and avoid it, a reflector however is something I use all the time for people shoots, once you know how to use it to get the most from it - it's a superb cheap addition.
 
Thankyou both!! That's brilliant I shall take a flash and reflector into consideration. I will have to read up on lighting too as I literally no nothing about it and so far have only ever used natural light and this won't always be possible when I get out and about more. I just spoke to a family member earlier and he has infact offered me his strobe lighting but I can't take that out and about just yet as I will be relying on public transport or my own two feet!! :lol:
 
odd jim said:
Definately invest in a flash.

Imagine the scenario; you have a beautiful model on the beach in front of a stunning sunset. You want to capture this scene but without a flash (or other fill light) you will either get the model exposed correctly with a blown out sky or a silhouette of the model against a perfectly exposed sky as all the light is behind him/her. Doh! This is where a flash gun comes into it's own, lighting the subject so both the model and the background appear correctly exposed as one.
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Make that 3 or 4 flashes, with stands and umbrellas or softboxes and reflector.
50mm is too short for anything more the 1/2 length. I hate long noses and small ears. 100-200mm is more like it, as long as it is f/2.8 or faster. Definitely scavenge your local library and bookshops for relevant literature or it may be more or less a waste of time (unless you can pay for workshops).
 
I've managed ok with just the one flash, most of the time it's all that's needed if you are competent enough in 99% of occasions.

Of course its easier with other slaves and brollys etc but I tailored my reply for the OP, whom I'm assuming isn't going to be carrying studio type lighting rigs around with her...
 
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it depends on your shooting style. Audrey Woolard (for example)doesn't use reflectors or flash. I think you need to decide what you want to shoot, and what the finished result is you want

... or you can buy loads of gear, still struggle, buy more gear, struggle some more etc..
 
I live near grimsby and have a small studio there. If we can get our hands on a canon trigger from lencarta, you are welcome to have a play in the studio and gain a bit of experience. :thumbs:
Just a quick thought, does your canon have a sych port. The lencartas came with a cable. We may be able to sort something out. I'll do a bit of homework and see what we can do. :)


Kev.
 
Thankyou again for all the pointers everyone it's really appreciated. :D

Kevshore - that is very helpful and generous of you to offer to help me! I am going to watch a few tutorials on youtube and see if I can make a bit more sense of lighting. I have never been bothered about it before as I do prefer natural light, but I do admit that it has been partly because it's the easy option!
 
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This is my most recent portrait and I am pleased with it. I know I could improve but it's a bit of a step up from what I have been doing! I know my style isn't many peoples cup of tea so if a client was to make a request for something then I would happily work around them :D
 
kevshore said:
I live near grimsby and have a small studio there. If we can get our hands on a canon trigger from lencarta, you are welcome to have a play in the studio and gain a bit of experience. :thumbs:
Just a quick thought, does your canon have a sych port. The lencartas came with a cable. We may be able to sort something out. I'll do a bit of homework and see what we can do. :)


Kev.
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I've got an unused Lencarta radio trigger set I could donate.
 
I like that!
Just pm if you want to take me up on the offer. The studio is central town, so no car needed. ;)

Kev.
 
Thankyou Kev!! Would you be able to PM me the details of where abouts in town? Do you hire the studio out to people too?
 
Get a flash. I do use Lencarta but when I don't have space I use a single SB900 and that is fine bounced off the ceiling. It does make a huge difference.
 
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