Shooting with One flash for Portraits? Advice needed.

Nikon_Josh · Apr 17, 2012

Funds are a bit limited at the moment and I am looking to sell my 35 1.8G which I have a love/ hate affair with and buy a SB700 to pair with my Sigma 50 1.4 for portrait shots.

I know the general advice is that the more flashes you have the better and I understand why this is the case. But right now I can only afford a Single flash, so I am going to start off slow and simple. I am a complete noob when it comes to flash photography. Advice on how I will go about getting the best results using a one flash set up will be appreciated? Any other pieces of equipment I need to get?

I saw a fantastic video on Digitalrev on using a single flash set up and it made me realise some great results can be created with using just one flash.

!

2WheelPhoto · Apr 17, 2012

If you have only one flash and a side of the face is not bright enough to your liking, simply use a reflector. Even one monolight in the studio is not uncommon for stunning photos. Shadows give us depth vs flat.

Derrel · Apr 17, 2012

Here is a good tutorial on using ONE FLASH, placed behind the subject. THis page has the article and text and diagrams, and there is also a short video. You will want some large poster boards; Joe Edelman mentions in the article and video that he uses ELmer's brand boards he buys at WalMart for $3.99 each. There is a part 1 to this article as well. Beauty Lighting Part II

Nikon_Josh · Apr 17, 2012

2WheelPhoto said:
If you have only one flash and a side of the face is not bright enough to your liking, simply use a reflector. Even one monolight in the studio is not uncommon for stunning photos. Shadows give us depth vs flat.

Cheers Mate! Maybe I have had some bad advice in the past, I have asked this question before and the consensus was that I would need at least 2-3 flashes to get the results I wanted, I really am dying to give flash a try and buying only ONE is my only option at the moment. So it's great to know, that one light could give me some stunning results.

Nikon_Josh · Apr 17, 2012

Derrel said:
Here is a good tutorial on using ONE FLASH, placed behind the subject. THis page has the article and text and diagrams, and there is also a short video. You will want some large poster boards; Joe Edelman mentions in the article and video that he uses ELmer's brand boards he buys at WalMart for $3.99 each. There is a part 1 to this article as well. Beauty Lighting Part II

Thanks alot Derrel, I can always rely on you to provide some great info! :thumbup:

Dao · Apr 17, 2012

Take a look at this photographer work. You will find some of them were shot with 1 lights . He even includes the lighting setup for the shots.

Flickr: luisx.com's Photostream

Mach0 · Apr 17, 2012

Do you have your heart set on a Ttl flash? Do you have one already?
If you are selling the lens for at least $150, I say pick up manual flash like an old vivitar or even a sb24. I would vote for the sb24. You can use it in the camera pretty easily. They are big but can be found for about 50 bucks. If you are shooting indoors I'd then try and get a flashpoint 320( you wont need a power pack.) A single flash would do but the mono would be a good investment for down the road and its inexpensive. A Ttl dedicated flash is awesome but you might have more bang for your buck this way. If you are outdoors, a couple of manual flashes come in handy.

Otherwise, a nice reflector will come in will do wonders with one flash.

Mach0 · Apr 17, 2012

Nikon_Josh said:
Cheers Mate! Maybe I have had some bad advice in the past, I have asked this question before and the consensus was that I would need at least 2-3 flashes to get the results I wanted, I really am dying to give flash a try and buying only ONE is my only option at the moment. So it's great to know, that one light could give me some stunning results.

There's some hacks out there but you need a Ttl dedicated flash with an pc port. You can use any flash and go higher than 1/200s with the d90 ( up to full flash duration of the flash@ full power )You can always go with pw or pixel kings as well but scratch it if it's not in the budget.

DiskoJoe · Apr 17, 2012

Derrel said:
Here is a good tutorial on using ONE FLASH, placed behind the subject. THis page has the article and text and diagrams, and there is also a short video. You will want some large poster boards; Joe Edelman mentions in the article and video that he uses ELmer's brand boards he buys at WalMart for $3.99 each. There is a part 1 to this article as well. Beauty Lighting Part II

Nice link. I like what that guy has going on. Really simple but highly effective.

Village Idiot · Apr 17, 2012

Also check out Zack Arias. He has a whole video dedicated to using one light; in fact, that's the title of it.

2WheelPhoto · Apr 17, 2012

That backilighting video is awesome, but for one light one doesn't have to "backlight only" to get great one light portraits

2WheelPhoto · Apr 17, 2012

Here is a virtual studio tool to experiment with lighting you may enjoy. Click the top left square to position lights.

Virtual Lighting Studio

lonewolfsx · Apr 18, 2012

quick question: what body are you using? Most of the recent Nikon bodies have built-in flash commanders... so with the SB-700, you could actually do a limited 2-flash setup. You could use the built-in flash at some power (I usually don't use it full power since it flattens subjects too much when I have other light available), then command the SB-700 on a stand or even just hold it out in your free hand... or have a buddy hold it somewhere. It's probably not as perfect as having two flashguns, but I'd consider the built-in + flashgun to be pretty effective for some shots at least.

Nikon_Josh · Apr 18, 2012

Mach0 said:
Do you have your heart set on a Ttl flash? Do you have one already?
If you are selling the lens for at least $150, I say pick up manual flash like an old vivitar or even a sb24. I would vote for the sb24. You can use it in the camera pretty easily. They are big but can be found for about 50 bucks. If you are shooting indoors I'd then try and get a flashpoint 320( you wont need a power pack.) A single flash would do but the mono would be a good investment for down the road and its inexpensive. A Ttl dedicated flash is awesome but you might have more bang for your buck this way. If you are outdoors, a couple of manual flashes come in handy.

Otherwise, a nice reflector will come in will do wonders with one flash.

I kinda do have my heart set on a TTL flash just because I eventually hope to build up a TTL flash collection and I feel the SB700 will be my first step in this direction. The SB700 as a single flash solution for the time being really does seem to have some great features, obviously the wireless control built into the D90 will be a huge bonus aswell. I guess as I also know little to nothing, using a single flash and getting the right effect will give me a headache as it is, so planning to start small and to move bigger. I will also get myself a reflector then, thanks for the help Mach.

Nikon_Josh · Apr 18, 2012

lonewolfsx said:
quick question: what body are you using? Most of the recent Nikon bodies have built-in flash commanders... so with the SB-700, you could actually do a limited 2-flash setup. You could use the built-in flash at some power (I usually don't use it full power since it flattens subjects too much when I have other light available), then command the SB-700 on a stand or even just hold it out in your free hand... or have a buddy hold it somewhere. It's probably not as perfect as having two flashguns, but I'd consider the built-in + flashgun to be pretty effective for some shots at least.

I have a D90, this is very interesting to think about. I didn't even consider using the built in flash in conjunction with the SB700. Will certainly be good to experiment! Soooo it will be possible to shoot the flash myself in a free hand then? I was thinking as a flash noob I would have to use a stand for every shot if I didn't have an assistant. Thanks.