Portrait gear

[Lello]

Hi
I have been asked by a few friends and family to take some portrait shot of them and if you look in my gallery, I don't do people
My question is, what is the bare minimum of equipment I will need to be able to take some half decent portrait shots.
Mainly asking about home studio setup (lights, umbrellas, backdrop etc, without spending an arm and a leg (as I will need arms and legs to take the photo's)
Thanks
Lello

[yelvertoft]

Lello,

The first question that springs to my mind is what equipment have you already got? After that, another question would be what style of portrait are you aiming to produce? Lesley and Martin seem to manage with minimal kit, but their style may not be what you have in mind.

If you have a flashgun that can be used off-camera (either wireless or by a lead), a 36" brolly and a well ironed bed sheet then you're off to a good start I'd say.

[Derekb]

Lello,

I bought a small D-Lite kit from The Flash Centre in Leeds and I'm more than happy with it. Two softboxes, two brolleys (I purchased an extra one) and the collapsible background (again purchased seperately) make it a very portable kit or small home studio kit, all for less than £500.

Still learning how to take portraits, but I'll be posting more examples of them taken with this kit in the coming weeks.

[Lello]

Hi Duncan
Yes I should have given you an idea of what gear I have,
2 x tripods
1 x SB800 flash unit
1 x other make of flash unit
1 X off camera cable for SB800
1 Sync cable (from SB800 to other flash)
If I use the SB800 as remote (using on camera flash)
And use the sync cable to the other flash I will effectively have 3 flash units (including on camera flash)
So I think I'm covered with the flash units, As Derek mentioned brolleys and softboxes, will get away with one of each? and I will need some sort of stand/bracket to hold flash and softbox/brolley.
Derek looking forward to seeing some portrait shots from you.

[miketoll]

How about a window and a reflector? Cheap and did not do Lord Snowden's career any harm!

[Don Hoey]

Lello,

Never done portraits either, but here is my two penny worth.

I guess the cheapest option is as Mike suggests.
Next up is Duncans as you have the flash units but will still require stands and brollys.
You will have to make a fair bit of use of it to justify a studio setup and in IMO would be better putting that cash into your body or lens piggy bank.

Softboxes are a bit of a problem for camera flash units. Not sure how easy it is nowadays to get hold of an "Apollo" softbox like mine today. Most currently available units are designed to attatch to the front of studio units by way of a mounting ring, so the flash head supports the softbox.

This link should give some idea of what I mean as far as the "Apollo" goes.
http://www.firelily.com/photography/softbox.html
To use a brolly you will need the parts shown in the link less the softbox.

Don

[andy153]

Hi Lello, Isn't the bare minimum to take them out into the sunshine, a camera with built in flash for fill in and a couple of white card reflectors should be sufficient.... or do they want the full "studio" treatment - in which case I would say you have enough anyway.

[Lello]

Hi Don, Very nice looking soft box, You say you can't find them anymore? I have a ordinary white rain brolley, which I think might do, just need to attach it to and with something, I could use the 2nd tripod for the Brolley ( brackets in the link look good) I will look into them, My piggy bank is ready to be broken I'm getting the D300 as soon as I come back from holidays (Maldives) in March
So the D80 will be up for grabs (FZ30 was sold on flea-bay) last week. Andy you're right about the sunshine, but how long before we can get in the garden without freezing to death

[Don Hoey]

Lello,

As far as I know Duncan is the latest purchaser of a similar bracket so he may be able to post some info.

Never tried a white rain brolly to know if it will work.
Of course you could always try lining it inside with kitchen foil and using a piece of garden fleece over the front to provide diffusion.

Attatched is a set of pics from an earlier experiment with my silver brolly set up as in pic 1. White brolly v garden fleece as a diffuser pics 2 & 3.
On portraits you will need to think how the catch light in the eyes will look. So a bit of experimentation needed if you are doing it on the cheap.

Maldives ........... Lucky devil.

Don

[Lello]

Hi Don what do think of these? I think they're cheap enough,and it saves me messing up Tina's white brolley I'd have probably needed to cut the handle off as well. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-33-Silver-...742.m153.l1262
There's a nice light coming through your setup, That would catch the eyes.