7 Single Flash Portraits Techniques That You Can Apply Right Now

August 23, 2015 by Laya Gerlock 41 Comments

Almost all the photographers I know have at least one speedlight. They use for their cameras hotshoe, if for nothing else. But what if you want to dub in off camera flashing but don’t have any modifiers yet? In this article I will show you 7 different single flash techniques for portraits that you can apply right now – without buying any modifiers.

The only thing you need to have is a wireless radio trigger and you’re good to go*.

One Light on Grey Background

Let’s start off with a simple one light portrait. I placed my model at about 5 or 6 feet away from the background, and bounced a speedlight off a white illustration board (but you can also use foam board which is easier to handle) to soften the light a bit. Here is a rule to remember when shooting against a white background – the farther your subject is from the background the darker the background gets. My speedlight was set at 1/4 power, and my camera settings were ISO 200, 1/125 shutter, f4.5.

One Light Above the Subject on Black Background

For this shot I wanted my light to come from above the subject. I placed a speedlight on the camera hotshoe and pointed the speedlight at 45 degrees upwards, towards a piece of foamboard. (it was actually the same piece of board, I just placed it above the camera to bounce some light towards the model.

Clean White Background

Question: How do you get a clean white background and get your subject lit well with only one light?

The subject was around 2 1/2 feet away from the background for this setup. I placed a speedlight directly behind my subject and pointed towards the white background. The speedlight was at 1/2 power. I got a mirror and placed it at camera left to catch the light bouncing from the backdrop and re-bounce it back towards the subject. My camera was set at ISO 400, 1/125 , f3.6

Window Shade

For this technique, I got an illustration board and cut out strip shapes and then placed it in front of my speedlight. My speedlight was angled at 45 degrees to the right. You can check out a complete breakdown of this technique here.

Strip Of Light

This one is kinda similar to the previous technique, but it uses a different pattern. I got two illustration boards and placed them close to each other. I then popped a speedlight right in between. The result? A nice sharp strip of light.

Outdoors Shooting

I like using a bare speedlight outdoors because it resembles the hardness of the sun’s light. I have a routine I call the 2 Stops Magic Bullet which I will re-share now. Once outside use Matrix or Evaluative to measure the background. then move to manual and set your exposure to underexpose for 2 stops. From there place your speedlight at 45 degrees left to your subject. A more detailed explanation can be found here.

Shoot Thru An Umbrella

And lastly, I was doing a Pre-nup photoshoot near the street and it was raining. My “client” had a black umbrella with a white lining in the inside (or it may have been my umbrella, I’m not telling). I got them to stand on the sidewalk and the groom was holding the speedlight behind them and pointing up at the umbrella. I zoomed my speedlight to about 85mm. My speedlight was around 1/16, and my camera settings were at 1/30, ISO 800, f1.6

* Actually if you have one of the new Canon, Nikon, or Matching 3rd party strobes, you don’t even need a trigger, it comes built in with CLS or e-TTL, Or even just a dumb optical slave.

About Laya Gerlock

Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years. You can follow his work on his web page, follow him on Flickr and if you happen to come by Cubao, Quezon City (To Manila, Philippines) he gives a great workshop!

« Some Glitterbombs of Truth for Photographers

Turning Day Into Night – A Comprehensive Photoshop Guide »

Paul Menard

the mirror one is clever :)
- LSG
  
  Thanks for leaving a comment
Petronilo B. Posadas

Nice share sir laya
- LSG
  
  Salamat :)
Anonymous

“without buying any modifiers.”

Requires:
1. modifier.
2. modifier.
3. mirror.
4. modified modifier.
5. two modifiers.
and
7. modifier.
- Atronoush Bashang
  
  A white board or paper is not a modifier! But an umbrella is ;)
  - LSG
    
    Yes it is, but in this case, it was a normal umbrella that the client had ;)
    - Ador Pamintuan
      
      It is a modifier!
      - LSG
        
        :)
      - LSG
        
        :) it’s a normal umbrella that the client had and the article is about using a bare flash without buying any modifiers :) Thank you for commenting :)
      - Ador Pamintuan
        
        By saying it is a modifier, paper or ordinary umbrella I thought it meant something that changes the original nature, quantity, color, direction, etc ,of the flash emitted light..
- LSG
  
  K
- Red Fred
  
  Why are you reading this technique since you clearly know everything already?
Red Fred

Easy set up for white background. Very good.
Sean

People here are so freaking picky. Get over yourselves. Don’t see any of your posting any articles…Jeez.
- LSG
  
  Thanks for that comment :) hehe
Bill Gracey

Nicely done. Thanks for the lucid explanation and the pictures of your setup.
- LSG
  
  Thank you :)
Thom Whicker

Thank you for the great tip for outdoor shooting! I’m going to try that right away.
Fernando

Thank you so much! This is perfect for me because I’m on a limited budget LOL
- LSG
  
  Thanks for leaving a comment :)
Lucas Pitcher

Thrifty and innovative – very good!
- LSG
  
  Thanks :)
Jakub Chodounský

Thanks for the tips, for me as a street/landscape photographer it’s always interesting to learn something from other genres.

I featured this article in Photography Digest #2.
JOhn C

your articles are the main reason I keep coming back to this site. Great write-up as always. Absolutely love the umbrella one!
- LSG
  
  Thank you very much :)
Ruben Saucedo

Excelent suggestions and esay to do
Cesar de Miranda

Thank you Laya for this tutorial. Love the Strip Lights method.
Stan Perry

I used a reflector and put the speedlight flash few inches away and its acts like soft box with a trigger …
manwhsohot_jfk

i mirrored this post in my FB group. I hope you don’t mind. Of course with full credit to you. You can check out my FB group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/shutterfreaks

You are welcome to join as well as I need someone who has the passion to share and teach. I also do hold free workshops in smaller groups here in Sydney.
- udi tirosh
  
  you know you can just link or share the article right? you don’t actually need to copy the entire thing.
  - manwhsohot_jfk
    
    I do know that. I like it better the way I do it my way so the memvers don’t have to be redirected outside the group’s page. But thanks for your concern.
    - udi tirosh
      
      well, when you pick someone else’s writing you want to redirect them to the original source, don’t you. Otherwise you are plagiarizing… AND stealing traffic from the original post.
      - manwhsohot_jfk
        
        Read my comment carefully before you reply.
      - udi tirosh
        
        I am not sure what I am missing
luke

Very interesting and useful. Thanks for sharing.
Bruce Smith

Very nice article. The schematics of your setup are invaluable. Other articles on this topic fail to do the same.
Toni Fernando

great article…
L.

That umbrella one really got me. Nice work!
Heywood Jablome

Very nice.
TokyoInPics

This article may be old now, but good information never goes out of date! I have a model shoot coming up in a few weeks and this article has so much stuff I’m going to try.