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The trouble with flash is getting it to look natural. The biggest obstacle is diffusing the flash so it softens the light to a point that it looks like ambient daylight. The good news is, you don't have to spend thousands or even hundreds of pounds to achieve this. A naked flashgun positioned on a stand raised to about ceiling height above your subject, pointing at them, angled about 30-45 degrees from centre, from a distance of about 10-15ft will soften slightly before it reaches then.
Next add a large diffuser (costs about £20 for a 4ft 5-1 reflector/diffuser from eBay). Get this as close to your subject as possible, positioned between them and the flash, without it being in the frame. Then add a reflector on the opposite side to lift any remaining shadows. Although this sounds like a budget setup (which it is), the results, if done properly, can rival professional studio setups.
£40 for reflectors/diffusers. A lightstand might run you to about £30-40 for a tall one. A cheaper alternative is spending £10 an inexpensive imitation gorillapod from eBay, mount the flash on that and fix it to a stepladder. The beauty of that is you can climb the steps to make any adjustments to the flash, rather than lowering a light stand. Simples!
*edit - I neglected to mention that you would need someone to hold the diffuser or have some means of clamping it in place. Similarly with the reflector, although this could be propped against something.
Last edited by amk1977; 30-12-10 at 09:59 PM.
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