"Fast Portrait Techniques" - Digital Photography Podcast 216

Quick portraits are the art of capturing "people shots" when you don't have time to position the subject or play with the lighting. In this week's podcast, I cover one of the modules from my all day photography workshop on fast portraiture. In fact, the sample photos here are the actual images that we shot during the workshop as we discussed the different techniques.

Believe it or not, this shot was captured with a hot shoe mounted flash. I used a Gary Fong Lightsphere and a mild softening filter over the lens. You can work extremely fast in these situations using this type of rig.

If you have to capture a quick environmental portrait when you need lots of background information, the best thing to do is turn off the flash and go with existing light. This approach isn't quite as flattering to the subject, but it does get the job done.

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