Artificial lighting enables new creative opportunities and versatility that simply would not be possible otherwise, and it is a skill every portrait photographer should consider learning. Speedlights are an affordable and straightforward tool for learning artificial lighting, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you three basic portrait setups you can create with just a single speedlight.
Coming to you from Jiggie Alejandrino, this excellent video tutorial will show you three straightforward portrait lighting setups using only a speedlight. Speedlights are portable and relatively affordable lighting tools, and as such, they are ideal for learning lighting. The drawback is that they typically have a lot less power than dedicated monolights. As such, they might struggle if you are working outside and competing with the sun, but if you are working at night or in a studio, they can work quite well for a lot of scenarios. It's worth starting out with a more affordable setup until you master the basics and figure out your creative style; then, you can purchase more purpose-specific equipment to match your needs. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Alejandrino.
If you would like to continue learning about how to light a portrait, be sure to check out "Illuminating The Face: Lighting for Headshots and Portraits With Peter Hurley!"
That umbrella bracket is pretty cool with the pistol grip. One thing I've always noticed when shooting portrait is no matter how many lighting setups I've used or even mastered in the past, sometimes you just gotta move through a bunch of them to see which one is most flattering to your subject. Sometimes one lighting setup with accentuate bad acne or make someone's face look fatter/skinner while another one will suddenly make them look amazing. Knowing how to use a bunch of different lighting setups quickly is essential in being able to make changes on the fly without looking like you don't know what you are doing.
That would make a very interesting tutorial! Thanks for the idea :)