Environmental Portraiture: Tell Your Subject’s Story and Create Dynamic Portraits with One Bag of Gear

Modifying the light

My go-to light modifier is a LumiQuest Pocket Bouncer. This softens the light nicely, yet doesn’t create a lot of diffusion in front of the light source, which could require more power from the speedlight and slow down recycle time. The Pocket Bouncer also is a fairly narrow beam of light. This is convenient because I don’t want to add light to the surrounding environment in the photo, only the subject. To create a more natural-looking photo, the surroundings should be lit by ambient light. I find that one light on a stand, with this modifier, is very easy to control; I can aim it toward the face if I want the face lit, and it does just that.

If I want a harder, more direct look or an even narrower beam of light, I will put ...