How I took these portraits at home with just one flash

I have had the same profile picture on all my social media profile since 2017. It’s this one of me in my Uni graduation gown that someone had kindly helped me take with my very 1st  DLSR camera 

3 years have passed since then with no luck of finding the next photo to replace. With the newly refreshed website, you’re currently on I thought It would be a shame if I had an outdated picture of myself. 

With that as the main motivator, I took the opportunity on one Saturday afternoon to challenge myself to take a professional headshot with the existing equipment I had accumulated over the past year and…

these were the results. 

My mum saw the pictures and were impressed so decided to join in on the fun.

I am proud of how it turned out with only just one camera flash. Could not have done this without the help of one of my favorite photography youtuber Sean Tucker on how to shoot a portrait with just one speedlight. He essentially shared in the video the entire shooting process and addresses the misconception of needing expensive gear to that quality portraits.

I have listed exact products that I personally bought and perhaps could better inspire you to try it out yourself.  

1) Camera Flash: Godox VING V860 II  (SGD: 209)

There are many cheaper alternatives flash brands like Yongnuo & Neewer that have a lot of good reviews on Amazon as well 

2) Flash Sync: Godox X1F (SGD 49.99). This is what you use to sync the flash to your camera whenever the flash is not attached to the camera. A flash sync is essential because we want to mount the flash to a seperate stand to get the different lighting position and angles

3) Folding Light Stand (SGD 27.70)This is the stand used to mount the flash. 

4) (OPTIONAL) Folding Black and White Background (SGD 50.30). I could not find the original product I bought on the site anymore. But you can find other variation on Aliexpress. Note that this again is optional because If you have a white wall or a clean background you can already use that as a back drop for the photos. 

5) Grey Card: Bizoe folding grey card (SGD12.23) You would use this before your actually start shooting. Take a picture of the grey card together with the subject so that when you editing the photos later, you are guaranteed that your white balance is always accurate. This is a whole seperate topic on it’s own. Here is a video by Adorama about this topic it.

6) S Type Flash Bracket: Bowens Bracket (SGD 23.49) This is what’s needed to mount the flash (item no 1) to the stand (item no 3). The one I bought is no longer available so this is an alternative. (which is actually cheaper!)

7) (OPTIONAL) Camera Tripod: Mefoto Backpacker Air (SGD 120) This item is optional if you have someone to help you take the shots. Once you get lighting set up and setting on camera right, you could focus on posing while your kind helper can take the pictures.

8) Camera. I imagine if you are trying to attempt this, you should already have camera lying around. Use what you have first because you might be surprised with the results. If you don’t already own a camera here are some budget friendly DSLRs options. 

8) Lens: 35mm. I personally used my 35mm which was the closest focal length I had for portrait photography. Again, experiment what the lens you already own. 

With the items above, I summed them up excluding the cost of the camera, lens, tripod which I assume you have and I am also not including the white / black background as it is not absolutely necessary. 

From the calculation you’ll see the Scenario 1 is the exact items I personally bought which cost 322.41 SGD. Scenario 2 is almost half the price because I swapped out the most expensive item on the list which was the camera flash to a cheaper alternative to bringing the total to only SGD 170.40. 

I hope the above was helpful in illustrating that is actually quite affordable to get this lightning set up going! 

As Jessica Kobeissi mentioned in one of her videos that an expensive camera won’t make you a better photographer. So I encourage you to use whatever camera / lens you already have to try it out. 

It is quite a small investment to make to up your photography game and get a better understanding of how light works. 

Thank you again Sean Tucker for always being inspirational and making photography accessible to everyone.