Complete "noob" trying to take portrait photos

[Pixel Hunter]

I'm sitting here at my desk at work. I have my Nikon D5100 in hand, and I'm tasked with taking portrait "head-shots" of everyone so I can use them for user accounts/Outlook/etc. My end goal is to have 200x200 pixel photos of everyone that don't completely suck. But given the use and size, they also don't need to be professional portrait quality.

Problem is, I'm getting pictures that are completely blown out, and I'm having trouble remembering how to set the camera and flash. I'm not typically a people-picture person. My focus (pun not intended) has always been on landscape, architecture, and macro photography. FYI: I've never used this speedlight before!

Any guidance on settings would be greatly appreciated!

(Nikon D5100, Sigma 105mm Macro lens, Neewer 750II Speedlight. I should also mention I'm in an office environment with fluorescent lighting and mostly bland and neutral walls.)

 

[weepete]

Shutter speed controls ambient, aperture controls flash exposure. So use a smaller aperture if it's overexposed and/or turn your flash power down. Check you've not got the ISO set high by mistake too.

I'd start by putting the flash in manual, set your aperture to f5.6, shutter speed to your sync speed (normally around 1/200th sec) put flash on lowest power and take some test shots. Adjust from there

 

[Designer]

Any guidance on settings would be greatly appreciated!

Use a modifier to diffuse the flash. Get something (like a cable or RF trigger) that will fire the flash when it is not mounted on top of the camera. Place your flash to one side. Learn how to set up a flash photograph. Do not mix lighting types, such as fluorescent and flash. (Turn off the fluorescent lights, or keep your shutter speed high enough that the ambient light will not show up.)

 

[Derrel]

One decent way to do this is with the flash on top of the camera and turned to the left of you, so the flash beam bounces off a wall corner, with the person slightly to your right and in front of you about 10 feet. You are using the flash bounced off of a wall and the corner. Use a telephoto beam spread on the flash,which should adjust automatically,to 75 or 80 mm so that you get a good concentrated beam of flash that bounces off the wall and the corner. This is in effect,creating a light source that is "off camera", by way of bounce flash. You can experiment with different ways of setting up the person and the flash. Once you find a set up that works, stick with it.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Seems like it might have been better to tell whoever 'tasked' you with this that you do landscapes etc. and this is out of your realm. You probably need to practice with the camera and the speedlight til you get to the point that you can do this, or let someone know they'll need to get another photographer. If you have to get on here to ask how to do this, it sounds like you need to do some learning and practice before you try to take photos for other people.

 

[Pixel Hunter]

Shutter speed controls ambient, aperture controls flash exposure. So use a smaller aperture if it's overexposed and/or turn your flash power down. Check you've not got the ISO set high by mistake too.

I'd start by putting the flash in manual, set your aperture to f5.6, shutter speed to your sync speed (normally around 1/200th sec) put flash on lowest power and take some test shots. Adjust from there

Well, I guess my first mistake was setting the camera to full auto. I've switched to Aperture priority and set it to f5.6. I also set the ISO to 100 or 200. I have the speedlight pointing up and to the left, and the couple pictures I've taken since look much better. I honestly haven't figured out how to work the flash power or other settings yet. I think the shutter speed wound up at around 1/80 or so, and I'm starting to get lost on some of the other things you've said.

Any guidance on settings would be greatly appreciated!

Use a modifier to diffuse the flash. Get something (like a cable or RF trigger) that will fire the flash when it is not mounted on top of the camera. Place your flash to one side. Learn how to set up a flash photograph. Do not mix lighting types, such as fluorescent and flash. (Turn off the fluorescent lights, or keep your shutter speed high enough that the ambient light will not show up.)

I don't really have anything to set up an off-camera flash. Plus, I need to be ready to shoot anywhere. No "studio" area set up. I didn't try turning off the fluorescent lights.

One decent way to do this is with the flash on top of the camera and turned to the left of you, so the flash been bounces off a wall corner, with the person slightly to your right and in front of you about 10 feet. You are using the flash bounced off of a wall and the corner. Use a telephoto beam spread on the flash,which should adjust automatically,to 75 or 80 mm so that you get a good concentrated beam of flash that bounces off the wall and the corner. This is in effect,creating a light source that is "off camera", by way of bounce flash. You can experiment with different ways of setting up the person and the flash. Once you find a set up that works stick with it.

Yes, I've got the flash angled up and to the left while mounted on the camera. Seems to help. I'm lost on the other flash settings you're mentioning.

Seems like it might have been better to tell whoever 'tasked' you with this that you do landscapes etc. and this is out of your realm. You probably need to practice with the camera and the speedlight til you get to the point that you can do this, or let someone know they'll need to get another photographer. If you have to get on here to ask how to do this, it sounds like you need to do some learning and practice before you try to take photos for other people.

I tasked myself. I'm the IT Manager for my company, and I want to make the company information technology infrastructure more personable and "friendly". One of my goals is to have employee photos used where I can. So internal emails have the photos, the Windows login screens, the phone system unified messenger software, etc. Like I said, I don't need professional studio quality. I want to get a 200x200 pixel photo of everyone to add to their domain accounts. Most places the photo is displayed is only a tiny thumbnail. Besides, if I do this myself, I will broaden my experience with photography. And I'm posting in the "beginner" forums because I'm a... beginner.

 

[weepete]

I did something very similar on Sunday night as my daughter needed a 4x5 for a student ID. She's done one for me for my works thumbnail previously. I politely suggest that you should do a bit more reading if you are struggling to troubleshoot the basics with flash exposure. A great place to start is here: Strobist: Lighting 101: Introduction

It should set you up with a basic grounding in flash photography with minimal effort, the whole thing really doesn't take that long to read and is better than I could put it.

 

[Derrel]

Here...take a look at a few basic, simple ways to use bounced electronic flash that is on-camera and in the hotshoe.The results can be quite good, if you just find a decent bounce location, and place the subject appropriately in relation to the bounce source.

Working with Flash - How to Use Bounce Flash for Better Photos

And here is a Strobist 101 column titled Bouncing Off Of Walls and Ceilings

Strobist: Lighting 101: Bouncing off of Walls and Ceilings

 

[EJA64]

You can bounce the flash light off a wall, or ceiling, by tilting / swiveling it...if it has that capability. Alternately, you can diffuse the flash light by putting a white screen over it. various styles abound. A cheap way is to take a white, clean, hanky, fold it so that two layers of thickness are used, and place it over your flash head. Hold it there with a rubber band. Aim this diffused flash head directly at your subject. If the images are too dark, move the flash closer, or unfold the hanky, and re-apply it, using one layer of thickness.

 

[wfooshee]

You've already discovered not to use full auto. Make sure auto-ISO is off, as well. The camera may be bumping ISO up if it sees an underexposed metering, and the meter DOES NOT KNOW you'll be using flash.

The camera will do everything in its power to expose properly without flash, and when the flash goes off, BOOM! Severe overexposure. If you have shutter priority, it will open the aperture wide open. If you have aperture priority, it will slow the shutter so low you may get ambient motion blurring. If auto-ISO is enabled, the camera will bump that up high enough to get noisy, as well as overexposed, images.

Set the camera on manual, use the aperture you want for depth of field, set the shutter to your sync speed (probably 1/125, 1/180, or 1/250, depending on camera,) and leave the flash itself on auto.

 

[greybeard]

It reads like the flash is set on full manual and dumping a full flash blowing everything out. Here is a link to the manual for that flash. http://wyecovideos.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Neewer-750II.pdf

 

[mrca]

Great advice from Derrel. Bounce. Using a snoot I once bounced 100 feet to the front of a cathedral and back to light a bride near the back pew. I checked your flash and it swivels and is also ttl. I would put the camera on a tripod to get consistancy in framing and bouncing and mark the spot for the subject once you have this dialed in. Don't bounce off the ceiling it produces racoon eye shadows in the eye sockets. Bouncing behind you gives flat fill light and that might work if you are using a window light as a soft main source. Bounce off a white wall if possible. Start by placing the subject a few feet from the wall say at your left and say 5 feet from a white, plain back wall with no distractions. If the shadow side is too dark you can have someone hold a large white piece of cardboard or even stand there wearing a white shirt to fill the shadow. Or, you can bounce off the wall at your right and place your subject closer to the left wall to act as a reflector. If you want the back wall brighter move camera and subject closer to the back wall so more flash hits it or further to make it darker. Not knowing flash and being an available light guy, if you have large windows that don't face the sun, hold your fist in front of you and stand next to the window and see how the lit side is brighter and the side facing into the room is darker. Move into the room and the interior ambient remains the same, the fill on the shadow side, but the further from the window, the less intense the light is from the window side of the face. Find the shadow ratio you like on the fist and place your subject there. If you have windows behind subject, adjust the brightess of the back wall by opening or closing them. Take a photo of your set up once dialed in since you may be asked to take similar photos at another time. You will have more consistancy if there aren't intermittent clouds. If you have sheer curtains you have a soft box. I carry a large piece of white fabric to gaffer tape over the windows as a diffuser to give even softer light. Lots of options. Pick one that works for you. Let us know what you do and how it works out.