How to shoot Portraits for day or night

Day or night - one key factor is that you must have light on the background. So during the day put your subject under an overhanging tree or porch to block the light on your subject and look for a background that has plenty of light on it. At night look for a background that is lighted by building or street lights to add light to the background.

Use Flash to shoot portraits during the day

I exposed for the background first with flash turned off. I kept taking test shots as I changed exposure and looked at my Dslr’s LCD until I got the exposure I wanted. I then added the flash until the light on the subject matched that of the background. I switched to high speed sync here to darken the light on my subject yet still show the lights bright enough in the background. I had the subject back out past the shade of the overhead tree to catch some sky light acting as a hair light.

A second flash (on-camera with omnibounce attachment was used to bring up the fill light on my subject, else the shadows under her nose and chin would have gone too dark.

F4.0 at 1/640 second at ISO 400. Off camera flash combined with on-camera flash

Use Flash to shoot portraits at night

Not a night portrait, but the technique is the same. I exposed for the light on the background and then added on-camera flash to bring up the light on the car.

F2.8 at 1/8 second at ISO 400. On-camera flash with camera on a bench for makeshift tripod

Equipment to use depends what you have

Speedlights or battery operated strobes work best.

I find that flash works best especially when doing night portraits. When outside I need a battery operated unit as typically there is usually no power outlet available to use a studio strobe. I slow the shutter speed in manual camera mode down to bring up the background light. I suggest you use a tripod, else the background will go blurry as you can’t hand hold the camera steady enough at the lower shutter speeds.