And here is my graduate son Jason, B.Eng in Montréal a few hours ago:

And how did I shoot this? With a direct, head-on flash, yes, and High-Speed flash enabled: 1/250th second, /f7.1, 400 ISO.

Yes, outside it’s OK to shoot head on if you have to. Not creative, but competent. And these settings were designed to give me DOF and a slightly darker background, so the subject stands out.

Here’s an inside-the-tent shot:

I shot at f/2.8 to f/3.2: in fact, the tent was the right brightness to use another mnemonic: 32/32/32, or “3200 ISO, 1/320th sec, f/3.2”.  Namely, 1/320th to freeze camera motion while I am using the long 70-200mm lens; f/3.2 to give me a little DOF for accuracy; ands 3200 to enable the two above. All photography involves a little thinking!