I'm a bit in the dark in our office

[V8HSV]

I work in Portsmouth for a recruitment company & our director wants individual portrait shots of our staff to be taken indoors holding an A2 colour board with text type upon it which I said I would do.

I have a Sony Cybershot DCS R1 with separate wide angle lens & telephoto lens together with a separate flash gun but it can’t handle the poor office lighting as we are in a large open plan office (ex IBM HQ) with Cat 5 lighting.

From a flash point of view the subject can be illuminated well but it creates a shadow that is not wanted even if bounced off the ceiling. Admittedly my camera is not DSLR but it should be good for portraits (no good for action/speed I know) and my problem area is lighting and I am not professional or even that competent an amateur really but ok at taking static cars & family.
I have thought about tool hire outlets for halogen lighting at 500w each but I would have thought I would need a bit more kit to soften the light with reflective shades?

Any advice from this most helpful fraternity would be greatly appreciated.


As you might have guessed there is a limited budget but if anyone has lighting I can arrange payment for those local (ish) to Pompey

[Gemm]

If you (or someone else) hold the flash right above the lens, the shadow should be minimal. Also adjust the distance between the subject and the background to get the best result. Using a diffuser like Stofen would also soften the flash. Good luck!

And I'd also forget about about wide or telephoto lens. Just stick to around 80(ish)

Edited by Gemm on Tuesday 25th January 14:09

[Simpo Two]

A north-facing window would help a lot.




Just do what you can and if the director doesn't like it, he may learn to issue realistic briefs