Advice on headshots

[JETA]

I'm doing some headshots for a finance company. Normally I do outdoor portrait work and would love some advice on the indoor arena.

What I want is inexpensive options because studio work isn't something I want to get into hard core.

So what I have is a gray varigated muslin background. I have two stands with grips that I use with my lastolite diffuser. I'm hoping to use these stands for the background. Would I just need a dowel of some sort? (background hasn't arrived yet so I have zero clue how they set up)

As for lighting I have my canon 580ex II, rrs flash bracket and a lumiquest diffuser for my strobe. (I have the gary fong too)

What is the best way to eliminate shadows? Should I skip the diffuser and bounce off the ceiling? A friend suggested lights aimed up on my background, but I have no clue what to get, what type of bulbs etc. As I said I don't want to go into this too heavily money-wise. Could my strobe get the job done? Are there some sort of lights at home depot that would work?

Hope this made sense and thank you for any advice and suggestions.

[armando_m]

The bigger the light source the less hard shadows you'll have

Bouncing of the ceiling while it creates a large light source, the direction of the light coming from above will increase the shadows under the eyes , not flattering in most cases, the gary fong I read it is nice, but I have not seen it or used it to comment further.

Bouncing the strobe of a wall will produce a big light source with soft shadows, the person has to stand relatively close to the wall.

The following image was taken with a single flash, to the right of the camera, triggered by radio, bounced of the wall , to the left of the camera, the model is about 1m from the wall, there is a circular semiopaque screen between her and the flash (hope this makes sense)



if you want to light the background you'll need additional lights, any light can work for that

[jetrim]

If you don't have a white wall available, other options include shooting through your lastolight diffuser, or dropping $50 on an umbrella & hotshoe mount to fit on a stand.

[JETA]

The bigger the light source the less hard shadows you'll have

Bouncing of the ceiling while it creates a large light source, the direction of the light coming from above will increase the shadows under the eyes , not flattering in most cases, the gary fong I read it is nice, but I have not seen it or used it to comment further.

Bouncing the strobe of a wall will produce a big light source with soft shadows, the person has to stand relatively close to the wall.

The following image was taken with a single flash, to the right of the camera, triggered by radio, bounced of the wall , to the left of the camera, the model is about 1m from the wall, there is a circular semiopaque screen between her and the flash (hope this makes sense)



if you want to light the background you'll need additional lights, any light can work for that

Thank you. Incredible shot.

At this time I don't want to buy a wireless unit. I'm hoping to do this without investing too much more money since this isn't something I will be doing much of.

Thanks again!

[JETA]

If you don't have a white wall available, other options include shooting through your lastolight diffuser, or dropping $50 on an umbrella & hotshoe mount to fit on a stand.

Do you think it would help to shine lights on the background? Will the flash bracket help at all?

[jetrim]

The flash bracket with umbrella will allow you to have a highly portable setup that gets the flash away from directly above the lens and soften the light source. That will help, but it's just one cost effective way to do what you're trying to.

William Coupon is an enormously successful portrait artist. He's shot presidents and movie stars. He shoots with 1 light - a 2'x2' softbox. No background lights or any other fancy accessories. Here he is shooting President Bush: http://www.williamcoupon.com/about_biography.html

check out the rest of the site as well, very inspirational!