Sara

In photography, there is such a thing as Depth of Field, or DOF for short. It is controlled by your aperture or f/stop. If you have a large opening or low numbered f/stop (kind of confusing, I know), you'll have a more narrow DOF. A smaller opening in the iris of the lens (aperture) will yield a larger DOF. So, after having explained that, what does this mean to me?
It means that if you're not careful, to enable the amount of light to reach the sensor in your camera, you may open your iris (aperture) so much that your DOF is too small, making your subject "soft" or not sharp in focus, as I've done in the image above. In portraits, you want the eyes, as well as all of the face to be in focus. The aperture I've used made the DOF so small not all of the subject's face is in focus, but the image is properly exposed. What I should have done was to use either a slower shutter speed, or a higher ISO so that I could have used a smaller iris opening on my lens, creating a larger DOF, while maintaining a proper exposure.

Starting with Light

A lot of people are not sure what they should start with as far as flashes and studio lighting goes....so I thought I'd write this to help some of you get started. Buying lighting for photography is similar to buying a computer in that you need to ask yourself , "What do I want it to do"?
If you only plan to take indoor family portraits (of your own family, not professionally) then you could likely get along with a single light, whether you decide to go with an "on camera" type of flash, which can be used off camera, or a studio strobe, which is less portable, but recycles faster typically, and is usually more powerful. The studio strobe is also tied down to a power supply, but the cost can be about the same, depending on what tier of quality you buy.



So, having said that, if you'd like to get away with the least expensive set up that can still give great results, I recommend an "on camera" type of flash, and I'd really recommend springing for the one that goes along with your camera system. They cost a bit more than the off brand flashes, but as you grow with your camera, they'll grow with you. You don't want to buy two flashes, because the one you already own won't perform with your camera the way you'd like it to. Right now these flashes are in the $300-$500 range ( Canon and Nikon). If you decide you'd like to get a studio strobe, I recommend Alien Bees or White Lightning . You may notice these web sites look similar, and that's because they're both the same company, Alien Bees are the lower tier of White Lightning.





Next you need to decide if you're going to use cables or wireless. Cables come in varying lengths, and the ones I started with were 15 foot long...but they can be tripped over and then your expensive lighting setup crashes to the floor, which is not good. On the Alien Bees site they also offer remote setups, and these are fairly inexpensive, at the time of this post, $60 for the trigger, and $70 for the receiver. The better (more $$) would be to buy Pocket Wizards which run about $200 each, but each unit can be a trigger or a receiver.

Now straight flash or studio strobe on a person is not very nice looking, so you'll want a light modifier. I recommend for starters to get a shoot through umbrella, which can be purchased online for around $20. You may want to work your way up to softboxes, but chances are you'll still utilize an umbrella from time to time, so it won't go to waste.
Another small investment that you'll always use is a reflector, which can become a second light source in a pinch.
Along with all of this, I'd recommend a light stand, and they come in different qualities and heights...but I'd start with at least an 8 foot (most houses have 8 foot ceilings), and an adapter to hold the flash and umbrella.
There are a lot more that can be purchased or made (DIY), but this should get you started. I'd recommend playing around and seeing what you like, or consulting some textbooks as far as technique (also see my friend Will King's BLOG). He's very advanced, and as well as being talented he's quite knowledgeable about lighting techniques.