gmango85 wrote:
I need help in setting up lights for Portraits. I have a Canon 600ex rt and a 430 ex rt and soft boxes, is it possible to use these two together and where to position them? Thank you in advance!
The sources and advice given on this thread have all been useful to me.
I second
https://strobist.blogspot.com/ --- with one privso: the equipment recommendations
(while excellent, and with links to an excellent supplier) are for
portable lighting, not
studio lighing. (Of course, you can use portable equipment in the studio if you -- and the
sitter--are careful not to tip it over or step on it.)
Zeltsman gives excellent advice and covers all aspects of conventional portraiture,
but you'll have to read 16 chapters. And it deals only with "traditional, classic portraiture".
When you need fill light, reflectors are the best bang-for-the-buck and also give you
matching color temperature outside regardless of the time of day (but don't work in the
wind unless you have an assistant to hold them).
You might also try to track down a copy of an old Kodak publication that helped me.
It focuses on portrait lighitng, particularly light ratios:
Eastman Kodak Co.,
Professional Portrait Techniques (Kodak Publication ; No. 0-4), 1980.
It's a bit more hip than Mr. Zeltsman (i.e. not every sitter is white and made to look
like an accountant from NJ.).
To get decent results quickly, start with one light source (probably your soft box) and if you
need fill, use a reflector (and vary its distance to vary the amount of fill light). Use the
fastest shutter synch speed, so ambient light will not be a factor. Later you can use as
many lights as you want, but initially simpler is better.
You asked about lighting, but of course there are other factors: using the right focal length
lens for the area shot (head & shoulders, sitting, full-length standing), standing the right
distance away (or the most flattering distance), avoiding a confusing background, etc.
If you run into any problems, please post on this thread because every photographer's
sitaution is different, so some of the advice here may not be applicable to you.