Tasked to take pictures tomorrow night!!! HELP!!

[jsmoove007]

I have the Rebel XT and the 430EX flash and I have been tasked to take pictures at the Dads and Dolls gala tomorrow night. I will be taking pictures of each dad with his daughter from my tripod and the room that we will be in has that kind of dim resturaunt lighting. If you guys could give me some general settings that I need to use so that I can take a few test shots and at least make my first photo shoot a success. The resturaunt is Pappadeaux for those who know about the place and how the lighting is. Any help is much appreciated and I love the help that I have gotten so far from this forum.

[leilay]

Is your flash on or off the camera? Do you have any modifiers for it?

I'm a newbie, so I can't help you with settings (so new my Sunpaks are in the mail - lol!) but you may want to grab a white canvas or board you can use as a reflector and practice indoors somewhere with a friend.

[Titus213]

What lenses do you have available?

[Swift1]

Turn up the ISO, lower the shutter speed (1/20) lower the aperture and ask the dad and daughter not to move a muscle.

Like Titus asked, which lens do you have?

EDIT:
These are settings without the flash, sorry...I don't have an external flash so I wouldn't quite know.

[jsmoove007]

I have the 18-55mm lense that came with the camera when I bought it.

[Curtis N]

The guidelines I posted in this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2953374)would be generally applicable.

[Titus213]

We are going to have to get an index of CurtisN's posts - good stuff he gave you in that thread. With the kit lens it is somewhat important to keep the f-stop up in order to get crisp pictures - f8.0 would be excellent. f8.0 will tax the flash in a big room so bring batteries. You may even want to consider using ISO 400.

[PhotosGuy]

so that I can take a few test shots Excellent idea! Start with Curtis's post.

[sfaust]

Dim light, Rebel XT, f8, kit lens, high ISO, low shutter speed, dont move a muscle, ... this sounds like a recipe for a soft and grainy image.

The f8 will require a high end ISO if the lighting is anywhere near what a restaurant normally runs. Low shutter speed will add to softness, as will the kit lens, and any movement at all at 1/20th. The high ISO will add in nose, and at f8 I'm betting we are talking ISO800 or so, which is pretty dismal on the XT for noise.

I would go with f4, thats two stops of extra light. The softness from the lens at this aperture will be less than the softness from movement and low shutter speed at f8 IMO. Let the 420ex put out a bit more light which will help with freezing the subjects as well and create apparent sharpness. ISO 200, at most 400, should be sufficient unless its really dark, and lower the shutter speed to 1/30th or 1/60th and see what you get for ambient background lighting. Use the 420Ex off camera on a stand, and a diffuser if possible to avoid any harsh light. If the room is tungsten, put a slightly orange gel over the flash lens. This will help blanche it somewhat with the warmer ambient lighting (unless its fluorescent!).

The best way to do this would be to have a 3 or 4 light strobe setup :-) If you can rent one and figure learn how to do a basic full length portrait set it up in time before the event, the quality level will jump up quite a bit and make your whole life easier. Well, at least your whole life for the duration of a few hours :)

[sfaust]

I just read Curtis's post. Good post and info and should dial him right in. I'd still use f4 or f5.6, but thats just personal preference. I have a documented thing for wide apertures. I am seeing a therapist for it. :)