Anyone have tips for taking portraits?

[Kelly Grannell]

DOH! Forgot we're talking about portrait, not full-body shot! My bad! Sorry.

 

[Quinn222]

Marinerbaby, those portraits are beautiful! As are the children in them.

 

[0bli0]

natural light is best if you have it available. you can gather it on the face using a reflector - white posterboard works well, but even a sheet or two of printer paper on cardboard can be used. this works well indoors and out.
you can also use fill flash in both cases, too.

 

[blackjackdelta]

bouncing to the side will cast unwanted shadow on the reverse side of the subject. It will not give better result.

The simplest solution is spend $50 and get the Gary Fong diffuser. I don't even use my CB camera bracket anymore.

I thought you are at war with Gary Fong right now?

Jack

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I posted that before the Gary Fong war. LOL!

Still a great product though. Abysmall customer service. If they hadn't promised me the 2-day processing time + 2-day guaranteed shipping option, I wouldn't be furious.
The previous GF LightSphere I bought was at the same price, but they didn't have the US$47 2-day shipping option so I 'only' paid $28 for 1-week shipping and I actually got it within 2 weeks (at the time, they also didn't promise "your item will be shipped within 2 business days")

I still highly recommend GF LightSphere, just don't get the 2-day shipping option, and make sure you have LOTS of time to wait (browsing through various forums, some people receive the item only after 1.5 months waiting).

 

[0bli0]

...Still a great product though. Abysmall customer service.

lol - i got this mental picture of Abis Mal answering the phone, speaking to Iago, trying to order a Lightsphere...

the original Lightsphere was a good product, but bulky for travel. it's definitely far better than a omnibounce. (i also had to put some velcro to keep it from falling off the flash. but it's not very effective with high ceilings and not appropriate outdoors - a diffuser- yes, but bouncer- no. it's not bad in landscape orientation outside and high ceilings, but not very good in portrait.

i still use my custom bracket often and i carry a lumiquest promax everywhere i go.

btw did you get the hard plastic one, or the softer one? how do you like the new one over the original?

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I have both the original (which is great for portrait, IMO) and the soft clear one (great for high-ceiling situations due to its inverted dome acting as a ceiling). I'm ordering another one because I will soon get another body and another flash.

I will still use the original (albeit there is a hairline crack from being crushed in my bag) for closeup (tried Lumiquest, tried Omnibounce, IMO GF LS1 is the best)

Nothing can actually replace an actual camera/flash bracket, especially Custom Bracket, but with my wrist problem, sometimes I just can't use my CB for longer than 2 hours straight and GF LS helps (and I can't imagine using 2 sets of body+lens+flash with two Custom Brackets. Not only I will continue having wrist problem, I will have back problem too, especially because 1 camera will be using 17-55 f/2.8IS and the other will use 70-200 f/2.8L IS)