flashes.

[riickye]

Hey all, its been way long since I posted here. Anyhow, I have actually evolved and I am pretty content with my pictures, I will upload some later for some c/c. And now, I think its time for me to move to more advanced photography, and I want to buy a nice flash.
A friend of mine is a photographer, but he does portraits outdoors instead of in a studio, and I asked him to take my senior portrait picture, and we did them at night. The pictures came out simply amazing.
I have tried to do night photography but the built-in flash in my camera is of course very weak and I noticed that my friend used an external flash that he would ask someone to hold wherever he wanted the light to come from.
I looked it up in b&h and I found stuff like slave flashes and a lot of things, but they seem as if they were for a point and shoot.
Can anyone tell me what's a nice flash that I can wirelessly fire with my XTi?

these are some examples of the photos he took of me and the effect i'm going after:

Ricky Elizondo's Photos | Facebook
Ricky Elizondo's Photos | Facebook

thanks alot!

 

[ANDS!]

What is the make of your camera -

 

[riickye]

you mean model? its a canon rebel xti.

 

[ANDS!]

No make. If its a Canon just get any recent Speedlite and you should be fine. I have no idea the wireless capabilities of the XTi, but your manual should have a section on how it handles dedicated flashes.

 

[riickye]

I checked out the speedlite, but that attaches to the camera, I need something I can move and that someone can hold for me.
Also, what is make then?

 

[table1349]

Depending on what you want to spend you might look at either the 580EX II or the 430EX II if you want TTL communications. With this you will either need the ST-E2 or some radio poppers.

Canon | 580EX II Flash | 1946B002 | B&H Photo Video
Canon | 430EX II Speedlite TTL Shoe-Mount Flash | 2805B002 | B&H
Canon | ST-E2 Transmitter | 2478A002 | B&H Photo Video
Radio Popper

Or check out the Strobist site. You can do the same thing manually for a lot cheaper, but you will not have TTL communications.
Strobist

This uses cheaper, manual flashes, and cheaper wireless triggers, but you will also want a flash meter to make life simple.

 

[riickye]

Look, this is the one my friend is using. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-SB-800-Speedlight-Digital-Cameras/dp/B00015GYU4"]Amazon.com: Nikon SB-800 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo[/ame]
I even tested it on my camera and it can be triggered with my built in flash.
Is there something like this from canon? the ones you showed me seem to need extra stuff to work.

Edit:

I found this one, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/515362-REG/Sigma_179_101_EF_530_DG_ST_Flash.html#accessories
but do you know if it can be activated wirelessly? I don't understand what E-TTL is, also, would it be a terrible choice to just buy something like this, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=details&Q=&sku=293955&is=REG ? I understand it will simply fire when it sees my flash. Am I way off?

Edit 2:

I also found this one, it seems really nice and it is super cheap. Can I fire this wirelessly?
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-DZBIS-112CII-Digital-Autofocus-Cameras/dp/B000M4MM46[/ame] Never mind, this one seems like crap.

 

[riickye]

anyone have an idea?

 

[Village Idiot]

anyone have an idea?

Canon speed lites will not fire wirelessly uselyy you have the Canon ST-E2 infrared trigger or some other triggering device. That can get expensive.

Or you could buy a cheap flash and a a manual trigger for cheap. All of that has been said above. If your friend is using Nikon, their mid to upper level DSLRs have CLS built in, which allows you to wirelessly trigger flashes with the camera body. That's not something that Canon does.

Read below. Keep in mind, there are a lot of different offerings in gear that will let you do what's described in the below links, so it doesn't have to be that expensive. For about $135, you can get a flash, stand, umbrella, umbrella adapter, and triggers. You could also spend $825 on the same setup if you buy different equipment.

Strobist: Lighting 101

 

[riickye]

Canon speed lites will not fire wirelessly uselyy you have the Canon ST-E2 infrared trigger or some other triggering device. That can get expensive.

Or you could buy a cheap flash and a a manual trigger for cheap. All of that has been said above. If your friend is using Nikon, their mid to upper level DSLRs have CLS built in, which allows you to wirelessly trigger flashes with the camera body. That's not something that Canon does.

Read below. Keep in mind, there are a lot of different offerings in gear that will let you do what's described in the below links, so it doesn't have to be that expensive. For about $135, you can get a flash, stand, umbrella, umbrella adapter, and triggers. You could also spend $825 on the same setup if you buy different equipment.

Strobist: Lighting 101

Thanks a lot for your responses, I think I figured out what I will do. I think I'm gonna buy a speedlite flash and get a brandless transmitter/receiver from eBay. That should work, right? I can't afford to pay $200 for the canon transmitter alone, so if this works then I should be fine.

 

[ANDS!]

Wow. I did NOT know CANON did not have a "CLS" type system of their own. Interesting. And kinda sucky.

 

[AlexColeman]

Depending on what you want to spend you might look at either the 580EX II or the 430EX II if you want TTL communications. With this you will either need the ST-E2 or some radio poppers.

Canon | 580EX II Flash | 1946B002 | B&H Photo Video
Canon | 430EX II Speedlite TTL Shoe-Mount Flash | 2805B002 | B&H
Canon | ST-E2 Transmitter | 2478A002 | B&H Photo Video
Radio Popper

Or check out the Strobist site. You can do the same thing manually for a lot cheaper, but you will not have TTL communications.
Strobist

This uses cheaper, manual flashes, and cheaper wireless triggers, but you will also want a flash meter to make life simple.

These are some of the most helpful links, it is just great flash technique.