Shooting in a Gym

[Ceyber]

Okay, a friend is offering to trade me a gym membership for taking some shots of her for an upcoming fitness book. I told her I have zero professional experience, no lighting, etc etc, but she said that she wants to at least try. I gave her the option of turning me down if they are no good :)

Anyway, anything I have to look out for? She mentioned that there are a lot of mirrors, and that the lighting may not be great. I have a 50 1.4 that I figured I would use, as its my fastest lens, but nothing in the way of flash.

Should I go for the on-camera flash at all, or just lower the shutter speed if the lighting is as bad as she says? Wide open? One stop less? I understand it gets sharper at around 1.8 ish, so I can shoot like that.

Anything I need to worry about with mirrors, besides not taking a picture of myself :)

Thanks all!

[PhotosGuy]

You need to go look at the location & take some test shots to see what you're up against for lighting. Then see if you can come up with something like these:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=550017
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=337691
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=80914

[chauncey]

From Frank's links, I see images of the model and not the gym.

[PhotosGuy]

I see images of the model and not the gym. I thought about that, but the OP said "for taking some shots of her for an upcoming fitness book."
Good questions lead to better answers? ;)

[egordon99]

What's the ceiling like? If it's not too high and fairly white/neutral colored, you'll be in good shape (no pun intended) Good luck!

Oh, no flash? You MUST buy a 580EXII ;)

[chauncey]

That's the point that I was trying to reinforce Frank. :)

The OP doesn't have to do the shoot in a gym. Anyplace that best shows the model would be good.

[oaktree]

Get permission from the gym!

[Ceyber]

She owns the gym, so permission isnt a huge issue. Thanks for everyone elses comments!

[tonylong]

One consideration would be the flourescent lighting -- not just white balance (it should be easy to create a custom White Balance) but also the cycle rate of the lighting that can create messy results. I'd suggest a bounced flash, maybe bounced off a reflector rather than depending on a ceiling that might not give such good results (high, a lot of light fixtures firing the flourescents). But then, I haven't done such shots myself, so this is just thinking out loud...:)