Help with flash and lighting..

vail3r · 23 Jan 2014 at 20:17

I've currently started playing with flash and lighting and mainly having fun doing portraits of various people I know at the moment.

At the moment I only have a few things:

1 x Flash
1 x Stand
1 x umbrella

Now with this I have been playing around with moving the flash in various positions angles etc and learnt quite a bit and looking to get some more stuff now to improve. I did some photo's yesterday of my friends and there kids and they come out ok but the most annoying thing is that it was a dark room and in all the pictures everyone has huge red pupils :mad:

I was originally planning on buying another flash, stand and umbrella but now looking for advice on if I should get something else?

Inazuma · 24 Jan 2014 at 19:30

Background drape and maybe reflector? Also a third flash can also add to the image (ie. 3 point lighting)

Sh4rkie · 24 Jan 2014 at 20:19

vail3r said:
most annoying thing is that it was a dark room and in all the pictures everyone has huge red pupils

I take it the flash was on axis with the lens or very close to it?

vail3r · 24 Jan 2014 at 20:46

Sh4rkie said:
I take it the flash was on axis with the lens or very close to it?

Not really it was 45 degrees on the right but it was quite a dark room so everyone's pupils were wide open so I don't think that helped.

James J · 24 Jan 2014 at 20:53

Use a preflash to make the pupils contract, avoiding red eye and deer in headlights photos.

Sh4rkie · 24 Jan 2014 at 21:40

vail3r said:
Not really it was 45 degrees on the right but it was quite a dark room so everyone's pupils were wide open so I don't think that helped.

Surprised, was it elevated e.g. 45 angle to the side and 45 downwards?

Never had my portrait work have red eye in it when using ocf and its diffused, to the point pupil is huge compared with the iris colour. Play more with your angles / distances and it'll go away even in the darkest of rooms. I sometimes use a high watt photo bulb (115w+) inside a softbox to constrict the pupil to being very small so it brings out the iris colour which gives a very different look. It won't contribute ambient light depending upon your shutter speed, but as always take a frame without flash to make sure you don't have light spill from any source.

A reflector is a must, ideally a couple, a round one for the client to hold to possible lift shadows under the chin or in the eyes. Then a larger one and place behind or to the side out of shot depending upon the final look you want. A light to give a bit of separation from the background and maybe a hairlight as well but it's never ending