Portable lighting?

[lights&music]

For my school art major work, I'm doing some low light photography (outside at night/dusk), and I was wondering what options there are for portable lighting.

I don't want to use a front on flash because I want to have Baroque-ish lighting.

I've tried using a torch, but there it's always really bright in the centre, and there's the ring of light around it. Is there any way to get past this?

My school has a canon speedlite 580EXII. Is there anyway to use this without having it attatched to the camera?

I use a Canon 450D by the way.

Thanks for taking your time to read this

[bhursey]

You can get a radio trigger system since your camera does not have a pc cable connection...

Gadget Infinity :: Digital Camera :: Flash Trigger :: Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4

You will also probably need a stand, umbrella and umbrella bracket.

[OsmosisStudios]

off-camera flash is gonna be the best option. There are several ways of doing it.

[k9mom]

Originally Posted by bhursey

You can get a radio trigger system since your camera does not have a pc cable connection...

Gadget Infinity :: Digital Camera :: Flash Trigger :: Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4

You will also probably need a stand, umbrella and umbrella bracket.

You can buy a hotshoe-pc port adapter very cheaply (under $10 US). It goes on your 450D's hotshoe and the pc cable connects the adapter to your off-camera 580EX II

there are lots of manufacturers/sellers...you can google "hot shoe pc sync" or similiar phrase. Here's one available from Amazon:

Amazon.com: Seagull SC-2 Flash Hot Shoe Adapter with PC Sync Socket: Camera & Photo

[Samanax]

FlashZebra has a pretty good assortment of off-camera flash accessories.