Wireless speedlight control or corded

[allenlennon]

Now, im going to be starting portriteur photography, and i am going to make umbrellas for the lighting, and i am going to make it universal to use a speedlight flash and continuous lighting. But for the speed light i was wondering weather to use the wireless hot shoes, and would like to know how they work as well, or the corded version, and with the corded version how do i attach multiple flashes for the cases i use 2.

Any help would be appriciated.

[CougarFool]

You don't say what camera it is for but....
Cords will generally give you full automatic TTL exposure for your camera and flash (providing they are compatible) and you can get them in various lengths. They are a bit of a nuisance and tend to get in the way though.

(Radio) Wireless triggers can give you full automatic TTL exposure communication but they tend to be very expensive. The non-TTL ones are excellent but you will have to use the flash and the camera in manual and work out the exposure yourself. This is not too difficult to master and gives you lots of creative potential. The radio range can be up to 100m.

Canon do an infra-red wireless system that carries full TTL information but has some limitations with range and placement.

There are a number of ways of firing multiple flashes but the most common is to have one flash as a master and the other as a slave. The slave has a sensor that detects when the master has fired. Another method is to have two wireless receivers set to the same channel.

Edited to say: I use the Hahnel Combi TF triggers and have no complaints. A friend of mine uses the 'industry standard' Pocket Wizards that are more robust.

[Bobobird]

Cheaper and very good alternatives are the ones from YongNuo and Photix, the latter cost quite a bit more then YN ones.

[Crovean]

I would go wireless of course.

I have used Cowboy Studio triggers Very cheap, like $30 for a transmitter and a receiver.
To make it work you got to have manual controls to your Speedlights.

Currently I am using the built-in wireless trigger system with my 7D which controls E-TTL on both of my speedlights.
Which is good for indoor use.

Now for my outdoor I'd use my cheap triggers. (for now)