My first possible shooting and I NEED ADVICE.

[erikfig]

Hey All!

Ok... A friend of one of my family members saw my pictures on my flickr page and she want's me to shoot her daughter next Saturday at her prom. They don't know any other photographer and I will like to get some experience by doing them the favor of shooting.

I know how to handle my equipment pretty well but I have never do a shooting before and I'm kind of nervous.

Is my gear good enough to get some decent results? Obviously I will do some PP on ACR 7 later on :P

My gear is:

Camera: Canon XSi

50mm 1.8 lens
28-135 IS USM Lens
70-200 F4 USM (I will use flash if low light)

I ordered a flash and should be here by Monday but I want to use it on Manual mode: How should I setup my camera to use the flash on manual mode? I want to control the flash power manually.


I will appreciate any feedback :P

-Erik

[PeaceFire]

Just to claifry- AT her prom, or before her prom? I've never heard of any outside photographer being allowed AT the actual prom. If that's the case and you're just doing some quick portraits before the prom you may not even need a flash if the weather is nice.

But if she's asking you to shoot AT the prom, you may want to do your research first. Most schools hire a photographer to do their prom photos and won't allow outside photographers. I mean, can you imagine if every kid hired their own photog? It would be a madhouse!

[erikfig]

Originally Posted by PeaceFire

Just to claifry- AT her prom, or before her prom? I've never heard of any outside photographer being allowed AT the actual prom. If that's the case and you're just doing some quick portraits before the prom you may not even need a flash if the weather is nice.

But if she's asking you to shoot AT the prom, you may want to do your research first. Most schools hire a photographer to do their prom photos and won't allow outside photographers. I mean, can you imagine if every kid hired their own photog? It would be a madhouse!

Your right, they just told me is before the prom. Thank you.

[PeaceFire]

Ah! OK, you should be fine with what you have then.

What flash did you buy? If you want to use the flash in manual mode then you'll want to use your camera in manual mode. But if you're not familiar with flash yet you will want to practice A LOT before the shoot. I love manual mode flash now, but it took me a while to get used to it and brave enough to use it with a client. So I'd shoot around your house as soon as you get it so that you understand how it works and how to make it work best for you. Be sure you shoot in RAW so if something does go awry you can fix it in post. But since you'll probably be shooting outdoors you shouldn't need a flash unless as fill if you can't find open shade.

[amirg]

If you don't have enough experience with flash photography, I suggest you shoot TTL (if your flash supports TTL). You can still shoot your camera in manual mode but use the flash in TTL with FEC as needed.

[erikfig]

Originally Posted by amirg

If you don't have enough experience with flash photography, I suggest you shoot TTL (if your flash supports TTL). You can still shoot your camera in manual mode but use the flash in TTL with FEC as needed.

Thanks

[tim]

ETTL flash for sure, I very very rarely use an on camera flash in manual. I use off camera flash in manual all the time though.

Get the customer to show you the sort of images they want, then work out how to take them. Ask is if you need to.

[whuband]

Since you just ordered a flash and maybe haven't used one, try to shoot your friend outside and use the flash for fill lighting. You will probably get better results than shooting inside. If you have to shoot inside and decide to shoot straight on in a portrait orientation, you will get a nasty shadow. Spend this week learning how to bounce flash using a friend for a model. Look at examples on the forum and you should pick it up pretty quickly.

[erikfig]

Originally Posted by whuband

Since you just ordered a flash and maybe haven't used one, try to shoot your friend outside and use the flash for fill lighting. You will probably get better results than shooting inside. If you have to shoot inside and decide to shoot straight on in a portrait orientation, you will get a nasty shadow. Spend this week learning how to bounce flash using a friend for a model. Look at examples on the forum and you should pick it up pretty quickly.

Yeah, I will shoot outside and use the flash for fill light. Thanks for the tip

[davisphotos]

Use the 70-200 outside or the 50, shoot in the shade, flash on camera, pointed straight at the subject, TTL mode, adjust the flash compensation to balance it with the daylight, just enough to fill in the shadows and provide a little pop. Keep it simple, and focus on making a good connection with the daughter and getting her to relax.

[Jerrad245]

Before everett shot I do a search for similar events, choose the pics I like, and then decide what I like about those so I can incorporate those things into my shoot

[emdzey01]

Quick and easy; almost just a summary of what has already been discussed so far. Just wanted to give you something step by step so you can focus more on shooting than setting everything up.

Attach your 50 1.8, set camera to Av, set aperture to 2.8 set ISO to a value that will give you a shutter speed of 1/80 or faster. The nifty fifty starts getting better contrast and produces sharper images around that aperture range. You want to blur the background to isolate the subject and get rid of distractions.

Attach flash, set flash exposure compensation to -1. Just there for fill.

Put her back towards the sun; keep the subject between you and the sun. Depending on the time of day, you might run into problems if you dont (squinting, weird shadows coming from trees/other objects).

Find a dark background to shoot against; at least where the whole subject will be in the shadow. If you don't, the background will simply blow out.

Pose, pose, pose! This is the difference between a portrait and a snapshot. If the lady likes to get her picture taken, she usually knows a good pose for herself.

Fire away!

[erikfig]

Originally Posted by emdzey01

Quick and easy; almost just a summary of what has already been discussed so far. Just wanted to give you something step by step so you can focus more on shooting than setting everything up.

Attach your 50 1.8, set camera to Av, set aperture to 2.8 set ISO to a value that will give you a shutter speed of 1/80 or faster. The nifty fifty starts getting better contrast and produces sharper images around that aperture range. You want to blur the background to isolate the subject and get rid of distractions.

Attach flash, set flash exposure compensation to -1. Just there for fill.

Put her back towards the sun; keep the subject between you and the sun. Depending on the time of day, you might run into problems if you dont (squinting, weird shadows coming from trees/other objects).

Find a dark background to shoot against; at least where the whole subject will be in the shadow. If you don't, the background will simply blow out.

Pose, pose, pose! This is the difference between a portrait and a snapshot. If the lady likes to get her picture taken, she usually knows a good pose for herself.

Fire away!

Thank you! :P

[erikfig]

Thank you all the the tips...

Keep in mind this is my first time using my DSLR and flash, I still have a lot to learn but I though you guys might want to see the pics since you all gave me some tips :P

I know this are not the greatest photos but they are my first ones