Working with flash
Lighting a portrait is an art in itself, but here are the Speedlite basics
Pop-up flash is okay for brightening up an outdoor portrait and adding a catchlight to the eyes, but its drawbacks – that is, being a small, hard-edged light source that’s fixed in position and limited in power – far outweigh the positives.
A Speedlite flashgun offers much more versatile lighting for portraits, bringing you more power and more creative options, particularly if you can get it off-camera.
To do this, you’ll need an off-camera shoe cord or, even better, a wireless triggering device, whether it’s built into the camera – such as on the EOS 80D – or a control unit that’s mounted onto the hotshoe. You can also use another Speedlite attached to the hotshoe, as long as it can act as a ‘Master’ unit.
Even when you’re limited to just a single flashgun mounted on the camera, there are a host of diffusers and other modifiers produced by the likes of Lastolite, Gary Fong and Magmod that can take the edge off the direct light source.
If you’re shooting indoors then you can always try pointing the flashgun at a wall or ceiling and bouncing the light onto the subject; the larger area will diffuse and soften the light, although you may end up with a reflected colour cast on the person’s face if the surface isn’t white.
The classic portrait lighting set-up is a main or key light, plus a fill light to open up the shadows created by the main light. You can achieve a similar effect by using a reflector to bounce light on the side of the person in shadow, although a second Speedlite will be more powerful. A third flashgun, fitted with a snoot or a grid, can also be used as a hair light. However you do it, expensive studio lights are far from mandatory for good shots.