Tuesday 25 July 2017

Portrait photography lighting

When I bought my first speed light I thought that I would only need one type of light for portrait photography, however I was totally wrong and I openly admit I was a little naïve. As I delved deeper in portrait photography, and portrait photography using a flash in particular I realized I needed a few different types of external flashes to take portraits, and these now comprise:-

Portrait photography lighting - Small speed light

Small speed lights are less powerful than standard speed lights, however they are still very useful and a speed light I think is essential. The small speed lights have all the features of the standard sized speed lights including manual mode, TTL mode, high speed sync mode, stroboscopic mode and first curtain sync. These little speed lights are packed with technology.

These small speed lights typically have guide numbers of 30m or so, so they are perfect when you only need a little burst of light to fill in shadows.

Where these small speed lights really come in to their own is when travelling. These speed lights are tiny and since they fit in the palm of the hand, they take up little room. Their small size also makes them well balanced on the camera, even smaller mirrorless and compact system/bridge cameras.

The small speed light I use for portrait photography is the.....

Godox TT350 (full review here)

GUIDE NUMBER (35MM @ ISO 100) – 36M/ FOCAL LENGTH COVERAGE – 24MM – 105MM/ RECYCLING TIME – 0.1 – 2.2 SECS/ ETTL - YES/ EV COMPENSATION ON FLASH - +/- 3EV/ SLAVE - YES/ VERTICAL TILT – 0 – 90 DEGREES/ HORIZONTAL TILT – 0 – 90 DEGREES/ DIMENSIONS – 140MM X 62MM X 38MM/ APPROX PRICE $USD/£GBP -  $85/£70/ POWER – 2XAA BATTERIES


You may also want to take a look at the quick whistle stop tour around the Godox TT350 speed light, as below:-



Portrait photography lighting - Standard speed light

The standard sized speed light is my general “go to” flash. These speed lights are obviously bigger than the small speed lights, but they are more powerful so you can do more with them. Standard sized speed lights are nicely balanced with mid-size and large dslr cameras, however they can feel a little top heavy on the smaller entry level dslr cameras. Standard sized speed lights are, in my opinion, too big and heavy for mirrorless cameras and compact system cameras however they can be used.

A standard speed light is powerful enough for most situations, however if you want to shoot wide open in the midday sun you will struggle and to overcome this you will have to think outside the box and get creative or use a “high power” flash (as below).

The standard speed light I use for portrait photography is the........

 Godox V860 (full review here)

CLASS – MID-RANGE/ GUIDE NUMBER (200MM @ ISO 100 IN METRES) – 60M / RECYCLE TIME (FULL POWER IN SECONDS) – < 1.5 SECONDS/ MANUAL POWER SETTINGS - 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32,1/64 AND 1/128  /TTL MODE - YES/ STROBOSCOPIC MODE - YES/ HSS MODE - YES/ FLASH EXPOSURE COMPENSATION - -3EV - +1EV/ OPTICAL SLAVE – YES/ OTHER TRIGGER – WIRELESS TTL SLAVE MODE/ SWIVEL FLASH HEAD – 0 DEGREES TO 360 DEGREES/ FLASH HEAD TILT - -7 DEGREES TO +90 DEGREES/ MANUAL ZOOM HEAD – (14) 20 - 200/ AUTO ZOOM HEAD – (14) 20 - 200/ BOUNCE CARD - YES/ LCD DISPAY - YES/ BATTERIES REQUIRED – SINGLE CELL BATTERY/APPROX PRICE ($USD/£GBP) - $199 / £161
Portrait photography lighting - “Powerful” External flash

I only use a powerful external flash as a last resort, and when a standard speed light simply isn’t powerful enough. I typically use my powerful external flashes when I want the speed light to be the primary light source when shooting outside in the midday sun, or when I want to freeze the action using a fast shutter speed.

You may be wondering why not just use a powerful external flash and adjust the flash power as necessary. There will be situations when one of these flashes is too powerful and will over expose the photo, even when the power is dialed right down to its lowest setting. Okay, you could try using a wider aperture, but this is no good if you want to stop the lens down is it? Similarly, you could try and increase the flash to subject distance but what if you are shooting in a tight space and can’t increase the distance?

A powerful flash unit is an essential bit of kit and it is definitely worth having one, and the one I use is the......

Godox Witstro AD360 (full review here)
The Godox range of speed lights and external flashes are awesome photography lighting solutions. Godox products are well made, powerful but controllable, user friendly and also affordable. Check out the following video footage of several honest and unbiased review of Godox photography lighting equipment. 


Related reading

Below you will find some links to other portrait photography tutorials, posts and articles that may be of some use, or interest to you. Please do take a look and feel free to comment as necessary.

Photography ramblings video playlist that may be of interest
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