Shooting on location help.

I know all about the golden hour and the session is gonna be taken late afternoon/evening. I have a flash and I know when to use the fill flash, but do you all normally bounce it, or just point it straight on? Where do you bounce it if you are in a wooded park? I have a reflector.. when should I use the reflector? Its just going to be me (i have no assistant) so i don't know how im gonna be able to work the camera and reflector.
What do you all do when you shoot on location?

how to hold the reflector. Either bring your tripod or even a lightstand if you have to and some clamps. You can clamp your reflector onto that and use that to hold it/place it. Good luck.

I rarely bounce a flash when shooting outdoors. Bouncing the flash off of a reflector will also soften it, but probably not as much as using a wall or ceiling...

If I am going to use a flash for outdoor portraits, it's either on-camera for fill, or it's shooting directly at the subjects from an off-camera location...either on a light stand. A flash by itself is a pretty hard light, so I'll use an umbrella or softbox to soften it.

A reflector is still a very useful tool, as long as I have the resources to use it. You can buy a stand with clips to hold a reflector...but those can be slow to set up just right, and they would likely blow over in the slightest breeze. You really need a person to hold them when using outdoors.

The key to good portraiture is getting a nice ratio on your subject's face. You can do this outdoors by finding locations that are side lit. One of the best locations is under the cover of trees, but right at the edge of where the trees end. The open area is lightly going to provide a side light where the trees provide a darker area, thus you get a nice side lit scene.

Of course, it becomes very important to watch your background when shooting outdoors. It's very easy to pay too much attention to your subjects and not see that there is a branch behind them, that ends up looking like it's growing out of their head. Or maybe there is something non-natural, like power lines or something that ends up in the background when all you had to do, was take one step to the left, to get rid of it.

McdonS wrote: how to hold the reflector. Either bring your tripod or even a lightstand if you have to and some clamps. You can clamp your reflector onto that and use that to hold it/place it. Good luck.

Thanks. I do have an extra tripod that I can clamp it too.

I use off camera flash on a light stand. The flashes are usually pointed at the subject unless there is something suitable to bounce off of. I do typically use a softbox or other mod. If it's windy I replace the light stand with a heavy tripod. The soft box is like a kite, and topples a regular light stand. Where I live it's usually too windy for reflectors unless I have an assistant. I've tried clamping it to light stands and tripods, but it's too much of a wind sail. I need somebody holding on to it with two hands.

Tanya095 wrote: I rarely bounce a flash when shooting outdoors. Bouncing the flash off of a reflector will also soften it, but probably not as much as using a wall or ceiling...

If I am going to use a flash for outdoor portraits, it's either on-camera for fill, or it's shooting directly at the subjects from an off-camera location...either on a light stand. A flash by itself is a pretty hard light, so I'll use an umbrella or softbox to soften it.

A reflector is still a very useful tool, as long as I have the resources to use it. You can buy a stand with clips to hold a reflector...but those can be slow to set up just right, and they would likely blow over in the slightest breeze. You really need a person to hold them when using outdoors.

The key to good portraiture is getting a nice ratio on your subject's face. You can do this outdoors by finding locations that are side lit. One of the best locations is under the cover of trees, but right at the edge of where the trees end. The open area is lightly going to provide a side light where the trees provide a darker area, thus you get a nice side lit scene.

Of course, it becomes very important to watch your background when shooting outdoors. It's very easy to pay too much attention to your subjects and not see that there is a branch behind them, that ends up looking like it's growing out of their head. Or maybe there is something non-natural, like power lines or something that ends up in the background when all you had to do, was take one step to the left, to get rid of it.

Wow, thank you so much for those tips. I'll take the reflector and clamp it to an extra tripod I have. Hopefully it won't be too windy. If it is, I guess I just don't use it.