Studio lighting

[I @ M]

Kanga, there are plenty of good points presented by others here re lighting but I think that you need to take a step back from spending money right at this point and do some more considered research regarding lighting in general and image specific gear requirements in particular.

Don't consider your own work to be "just snap shots", keep posting some for critique and learn from opinions on here. The "new to photography" forum isn't the place to receive critique on images but seeing as you are seeking advice on lighting I reckon we can use 2 of those shots for a bit of education. With your enquiry about lighting and desire to " do some portraits" the two images with people in them could have benefited from different approaches with regard to lighting, composition and exposure. I realise both seem to be more spur of the moment grab shots rather than set up and rehearsed portraiture sessions and as such they work quite well and are far from "bad" efforts. The young fella with the axe is a well captured moment and really there isn't a lot to dislike about it, plenty of emotion, contrasting shade and light with nothing badly over exposed and no massive loss of detail in the shadows. If it had been a heavily staged shot then a totally different approach could have been taken to achieve quite a dramatic look to the image. This is where you need to learn a lot about balancing the use of ambient light ( the sun in this case ) and incident lighting ( a speedlight / flash ) to know what to use in the way of camera / flash settings to use. Basically, the chair in the background and the bright patches of sun don't bring a lot to the image so if we were photographing that as a set up shot we wouldn't have had the chair there to start with, the sunlight can stay but we would have "controlled" it or kept it exposed at a much lower level with the use of a high shutter speed. That then leaves you to light the subject with the flash. To get the sense of shadow and contrast in the image the flash would have to be off the camera, able to synch to the high shutter speed ( probably well over the inbuilt camera synch limitation ) and to have enough power to expose the subject the same way with more control of the highlight areas. Without knowing the actual figures from the shot and seeing exactly what the light conditions were at the time you may have been able to achieve it with one flash fired through a modifier and controlled by a wireless trigger. That scenario requires you to be able to run everything about the camera and flash settings 100% manually with absolutely no input from the camera to guide you from the semi automatic modes. The other alternative is to buy "intelligent" flash triggers that will allow some automation to the process but you still need to know the basics of how to control the ambient light with shutter speed and how to expose the subject correctly through the use of flash power, aperture and distance.

The other image, if it had been a formally posed shot is pretty well exposed between the balance of lighting. In that one though I feel that the use of the natural light and the use of a simple reflector positioned properly could have achieved better results to fill shadows under the hat as well as to light her face more softly.

To me, there is no one overall solution to the lighting issue but before you spend dollars on things that may well become redundant very quickly you need to learn a lot more to begin with. Speedlights are limited in studios where you need a lot of light, studio strobes are bulky and at times inconvenient to run out doors without all the gear ( modifiers, stands, weights and battery packs ) so more consideration of your aims to start with are required.

Your question at the end of the above post is what makes me think that you need to get a lot more learning done first.
If the yongnuo style flashes can be triggered optically ( the light from the 600 ex ) then you can run multiple lights -- but -- you will almost certainly not be able to control the light output of the slave flashes by the 600 ex. This is where you need to start taking control of the whole show. No av, tv or programmed auto allowed. The manual setting only on the camera and all lights.

I am not trying to sound harsh but I do feel that you need to gain a lot more understanding of lighting before you dive in head first and end up disappointed and that would be a pity because your photography is far from bad and needs to be encouraged.

[kangareigns]

Wow, that was a very detailed response so I thankyou for your time and experience in providing this feedback..
In regards to the boy with the axe, I played with the look of the image in lightroom trying to create a creepy look, probaly not the right term but thats what I was looking for..The lady in the hat (my wife) was just standing there so I try to compose as i knoew how and took the shot. I dont own a reflector so nothing I've done is composed so to speak..Even the image of Mount fuji was taken from a bullet train at 300km, I saw it coming and noticed the road leading to the mountain was (what Ive read) a leading edge and just snapped away.
I do shoot in Manual but never with a flash so I have no idea how to control the light.
Anyhow, i thought if i had some lighting then I could practice it, particulary at home whereby I could set something up and play around. Obviously with working full time and other commitments, leaves little time to experiment.
I certainly do understand what your saying, I have much to learn hence Ive read a number of books but have little practical experience so Id be happy to pay a prefessional for their time to share some tips one on one if you could reccomend somebody..Id rather pay for the hands on experience than a online tutorial.