Inside portrait Shooting

[Photoman65]

I am seeking information how to shoot sharp portrait shots inside a medium size room using white backdrops. The ceiling lights are white florescents. I am usinng two strobe lights/flash that are connected to a 1000W power pack for flash out put. My challenge is to have the perfect lighting for portrait shots with this set up. Here are my questions.

Camera Body Canon 20D
1. Do I have adequate lighting for the sharpest results?
2. What other color backdrop works well for this scenario?
3. What lens should I use out of these (Canon 24-70mm f/2.8, Canon
85mm f/1.8 and canon 70mm-200mm f/2.8 IS).
4. How can I position the strope lights/flash for the best lighting with 0
shaddow effect on backdrop?
5. Should I adjust the ISO above 100?
6. What is the recommended shutter speed and apeture for inside portraits?
7. What is the recommended distance from portrait subject to place strobe lights/flash?

[awad]

i use three lights for a pure white background. i also use my 24-70 for full length shots, and 70-200 f/2.8 for tight crops. i keep my iso at 100. white background. you can change the color to gray and black by positioning the lights.

[SkipD]

50-70mm should be more than adequate for use with a 20D (or any other APS-C format camera) for conventional portraits.

Turn the fluorescent lights OFF while shooting. The color qualities of that lighting are far different from the strobes, and if the light from the fluorescent sources is bright enough to affect the images, you will be struggling to get correct white balance.

If you really want to keep all shadows off the background (a pure white background, that is), you will probably need a couple of extra lights simply to illuminate the background a couple of stops brighter than the subject. You will probably want at least two lights (or at least some adjustable reflectors for shadow control) for the subjects.

By the way, there's only one "e" in the word lens. :p

[Photoman65]

SkipD,

You were right! I fixed the error. lol Now my challenge after turning the florescent lights off is to keep the subjects' faces lit with no panda bear eye shadows. How can I accomplish this using only 2 strobe lights/flashes? Can proper facial lighting work using only two strobe/lights and not a third external light? If so, please share your thoughts with me. I sincerely appreciate help from everyone.

[Wilt]

I'll echo, and add comments...
> turn off the fluorescents.
> use 50-70 for 20D most individual portraiture, 70-100 for tighter headshots, 30-40mm for group portraits.
> your two lights are good enough only for the subject, unless you use one light for the b/g and substitute a reflector for the fill; separately light the background!
> shutter speed does not matter except be sure to adhere to X synch of your camera...you might need slightly slower for use with a studio flash than with a speedlight.
> Light closer to subject if you want its intensity to be diminished at the b/g, so that you can independently use another light to control the b/g intensity