First time doing actual portraits on Monday night......need some advice! Sample pics?

[kit lens]

So I am going to take portraits of members of my fire department on Monday night, to update our website. I will be doing the pictures in a room that is about 14'x14', with good fluorescent lighting from the ceiling.

As far as equipment, I am limited pretty badly. I have a 30D with the kit lens, and a 50mm f1.8. I have no external flash either. :oops:

Now on to the room and subjects. We will all be wearing our dress uniforms, so it will ultimately be like a yearbook picture of sorts......is the ultimate goal. I would assume the classic seated position, facing either way from me.....just not directly at me. Do they need their arms at their side? Arms in lap?

As far as a background, I have a large tan wall. I was thinking of going to pickup some black sheets, and hang them up in the background. We have flag that we will mount on the wall that needs to show up in the background, not necessarily in focus......just noticeable.

Anyone have any recommendations? Should I bring some lights in and set them on the floor? Obviously I'll use a tripod for consistency.......should I use the built in flash for the subjects.....and a dim light to illuminate the flag in the background?

Any help is appreciated, as I have never done this type of work!

[kit lens]

Anyone?

[kit lens]

Awesome.......thanks for all the help.

[stsva]

I'm afraid I don't know anything about this kind of shooting either, but I did notice one thing you mentioned that might cause you problems. You'll want to be very careful if fluorescent lighting is your only light source. Getting a good white balance is the obvious issue, but there have been some posts I've seen here about how you can get weird color shifts due to the lights' cycle. You might want to take a look at these:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=554452&highlight=fluorescent+white+balance
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=93067&highlight=fluorescent+white+balance

[alt4852]

So I am going to take portraits of members of my fire department on Monday night, to update our website. I will be doing the pictures in a room that is about 14'x14', with good fluorescent lighting from the ceiling.

As far as equipment, I am limited pretty badly. I have a 30D with the kit lens, and a 50mm f1.8. I have no external flash either. :oops:

Now on to the room and subjects. We will all be wearing our dress uniforms, so it will ultimately be like a yearbook picture of sorts......is the ultimate goal. I would assume the classic seated position, facing either way from me.....just not directly at me. Do they need their arms at their side? Arms in lap?

As far as a background, I have a large tan wall. I was thinking of going to pickup some black sheets, and hang them up in the background. We have flag that we will mount on the wall that needs to show up in the background, not necessarily in focus......just noticeable.

Anyone have any recommendations? Should I bring some lights in and set them on the floor? Obviously I'll use a tripod for consistency.......should I use the built in flash for the subjects.....and a dim light to illuminate the flag in the background?

Any help is appreciated, as I have never done this type of work!

you're in quite a bit of trouble, as this sounds like a scenario that you are ill-equipped and ill-experienced for. having no off camera flash for a group photo, and weak ambient (in my opinion, any sort of florescent lighting is not good lighting), you may just have to rough it out and try to round out the image in post.

unless there are heavy shadows on their faces, i think using on camera flash for fill in this case would actually make it look worse.

the only reminder that i'd be careful of is to make sure your shutter speed does not exceed 1/60 or so. otherwise, you might get a nasty surprise since it sounds like florescent lighting will be the primary source of light in your shoot.

[rmcd]

Awesome.......thanks for all the help.

I didn't see this one until just now so it's probably too late. But for next time, could you simply rent a couple of monolights, modifers (like a softbox or umbrella) and a meter?

A little bit of quick instruction at the store and some practice on captive subjects like spouse and children might be enough to help you pull off a shoot.

Here in Canada, you could have that kit for a day (or a weekend) for around $70-$100.

Good luck. Hope you were able to make due with what you had.

[klynam]

I too just saw this thread, one of the troubles with a popular forum is missing topics you might be able or at least willing to help with.

Using your 50mm and and mixing ambient light with those big battery powered torch lights you guys have could result in some very, very cool photos. Maybe a little more stylized than you intended, but very cool none the less.

How did your photos turn out?