Okay everyone... need your help. I do a lot of natural-light
photography, but new to the Speedlites. I have a 580EXII and a 430EXII
and I do have the standard diffusers for them. I'd like to get a nice
large softbox or something, but I want to know what's the best for
portraits. I took this photo today of my girlfriend in front of this
beautiful fountain near where we work. The sun was almost directly
behind here (but high in the sky) which was on purpose to give the water
some dimension. As a result, I brought along my 580EXII to use as the
light in front. I took a couple of exposures and they were too bright.
I was, after all, using an EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (on my 7D). I ended up
putting it in Tv mode (1/250sec) and it set the aperture narrower than
I'd hoped. Maybe I should have used a neutral density filter?


I guess my question here is this: How is the best way to take WELL
LIT portraits (full body or head/shoulders) outside with harsh sun?
This could be for modeling, weddings, snapshots - whatever. I just
tend to use natural light but when it's really sunny, the shadows are
too harsh. I'm afraid of my Speedlites sometimes because they never
seem to work the way I think they should. Can anyone "shine some light"
on this subject for me? (sorry... I couldn't resist! haha!) C&C on
this image would be appreciated too - though the main point of this
post is for the future with outdoor photos and Speedlites.


- Jordan


www.freshphotoblog.com