Pro Portraits with Just Two Flashes

You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on expensive lighting to get professional-looking portraits.

Many amateur photographers are intimidated by studio portraiture, and for good reason. A trip to a working pro's studio reveals thousands of dollars of lighting equipment, specialized backdrops, and various posing accessories. Who can afford that?

You have to remember that working pros need all that stuff because they're required to meet the needs of a various clients. Pros often don't know who's going to walk in the door and what that person is going to want. You don't have that problem. Your mortgage isn't dependent on your ability to meet every customer's whim.

So, then, how much stuff do you need to shoot a professional-looking portrait? Your setup can be as simple as two flashes, two light stands, one photo umbrella, and a nontextured backdrop, such as butcher's paper. All of these goodies fit easily in the trunk of your car, enabling you to shoot great-looking portraits just about anywhere.

Get Your Lighting Together

For this assignment, I'm going to start by showing you what I consider the easiest way to go. Even though the investment in this equipment is far less than what pros spend, the bottom line might still be more than your budget allows (figure about US$600). If this is the case for you, I'll present some low-cost alternatives at the end of this hack. But let's start with the most desirable and go from there.

 

First, I strongly recommend a camera that has Manual Exposure control and accepts external flashes. A camera that has lots of flash accessories available from the manufacturer is even better. At the moment, Nikon and Canon provide the most options.When you're shopping for external flashes, look for models that can be triggered wirelessly by the camera. These units are perfect for the photographer on the go. The transmitter mounts in the camera's hot shoe and wirelessly triggers all the flashes when you trip the shutter.

 

Not only does this configuration save you from the tangle of wires, but the flash units and camera also communicate during the exposure, so you get perfectly exposed shots without having to calculate guide numbers and f-stops. It's truly amazing. Nikon's offering is equally fantastic.

Canon 420EX flashes in slave mode

Now, all you need are a couple of light stands (with brackets) on which to mount your flashes and a photo umbrella to serve as a diffuser for the main light. I've had good luck with Bogen light stands, such as model 3097, because they provide good height but fold down to a compact size and are lightweight. I add a Bogen 028 flash bracket to the top of each stand so that I can position the light at any angle. Plus, I use these brackets to hold the umbrella. Just about any type of photo umbrella will serve you well, so shop for price.

 

Source: O’Reilley | Website for Photographers | Online Portfolio

Photography Ideas: Get the Big Picture with a Panorama

They say two heads are better than one. When it comes to showing the "big picture," many heads? er, shots? are definitely bigger than one.

 

Many people are frustrated by their inability to capture the majesty of awesome natural monuments such as the Grand Canyon. I've heard this phrase a dozen times: "This picture doesn't really do it justice. It looked so fantastic when I was there." Bad photography isn't the culprit here; inadequate coverage is.

 

Let me ask you this: if you went to the Grand Canyon and had to look at it through a toilet-paper tube, how impressive would you think it was? Probably not much, the same thing happens when you try to capture the magnificence of a vast location with single shots on your point and shoot. This doesn't mean that you have to go out and buy a camera with a super-wide lens. Instead, put the magic of digital photography to work for you.

 

Almost every digital camera available today is capable of creating breathtaking panoramas by stitching together a series of shots into one gigantic, seamless scene. Back in the days of film, you probably played around with this technique by taping together snapshots to make a bigger picture. One of my favorite artists, David Hockney, put a creative spin on this technique with works such as "The Brooklyn Bridge Nov 28th 1982" and "Pear blossom Hwy. Hockney's works are usually referred to as photographic collages. But the concept is similar to our exploration here? Taking a bunch of small images and combining them to make a big picture.

 

Unlike Hockney's work, however, our panoramas are very linear, moving from left to right. If your camera has a Panorama mode, use it; it helps you capture the images in a way that's easier for your computer to deal with later. That's the process. You shoot 3 to 12 pictures, moving from left to right, and then upload them to your computer where they can be stitched together as a sweeping vista.

 

Let's start with the shooting technique. You'll get the best results if you use a tripod, and you'll have even better luck if you have a bubble level to go with it. That way, you can align your camera to keep a straight horizon line through the entire picture-taking sequence. If your tripod doesn't have a built-in level, go to the camera store to buy one that attaches to your camera's hot shoe.

 

Look for a location with the sun to your back. Most panoramas cover about 180°. You want the lighting as even as possible on that scene so that you don't have abrupt shifts in the color of the sky, which makes it more difficult to stitch together the scene and end up with continuous tones. Once you have your camera mounted and aligned, swing through the scene and follow the horizon line to make sure it stays level.

 

If your camera has a Panorama mode, enable it. Otherwise, just make sure you overlap one third of the frame as you move from shot to shot. This will give your computer lots of information to stitch the scenes together.

 

Source: O’Reiley | Portfolio Website for creative professionals