First Photoshoot this July!!!

Hey guys. My name is Jer and I'm 19 years old. This July, I'm doing a photoshoot for my friend's birthday party. It's super formal, and it's a black and white theme, and I don't really know what to expect. I've done little family shoots whenever we have family get togethers, and nothing too big. My gear consists of an XTi, 50mm lens, 17-40L, 10-22, 18-55, and a 430ex2 flash. I have an idea of how to shoot some shots, but I don't really know how I should be prepping the camera. I've never shot in manual mode, and haven't really had a chance to mess around with the flash as it's a new toy. I haven't really had time to play with it, so any tips that could help me with using the flash will help! Another big thing here is post processing... I don't know what kind of techniques to do to pp, so also some techniques and whatnot would be helpful If there's anything else you guys can help me with, that'd be great. If there's any confusion on anything, let me know so I can try and clarify what I was trying to say.Thanks!

gsr x civic wrote in post #5449493
, and have

I have a feeling that what ever is hanging after "and have" is the absolutely most important part of the paragraph.

lol. wow. that's weird. i never even caught that. weird how it cut off... i'll re-edit it and fix it.

Congrats on not waiting 'till the night before to ask! (No, that's not unusual!)
Your equipment list looks good.

Since you have time, give it a try. I think it's easier when you don't have to think about EC for each shot.
Need an exposure crutch?
More on how the subject affects the exposure & why manual keeps me worry free: Post #47

There are a lot of good links in here:
** IMPORTANT LINKS: EOS Flash **

Test & try different things. When you get stuck, post a problem image & we'll help out.

wow that eos flash will have me reading for days, or even weeks! lol.

so exposure crutch... is that pretty much where the camera compensates for "lack of light" but the lighting really hasn't changed? so like pretty much when shooting in manual mode keep the same settings throughout the shoot because lighting will remain constant?

i'm not too experience and don't really know anything about photography. i just take pics and hope they turn out good. lol. i also really gotta learn how to pp better and learn how to do minor skin smoothing if needed... and how to resize properly and how to properly sharpen... i still don't really understand.
when i use unsharp mask, the changes i make are so minor that it's not really noticeable, because when it is, it's too obvious.

here's an example of some of my work. not the greatest. i haven't been shooting that long so please, cut me some slack

http://i144.photobucke​t.com/albums/r181/gsrx​civic/61.jpg
http://i144.photobucke​t.com …vic/portraits/S​usan_1.jpg
http://i144.photobucke​t.com …vic/portraits/m​ini-70.jpg

etc etc

As far as flash tecniques go, I recommend spending some time at http://planetneil.com/

Not a "lack of light", but the meters incorrect assumption of what is important in the scene.

Yes. If the lighting remains constant, then you take the dufus at Canon who programmed the meter out of the loop & avoid needing to interpret a EC (exposure compensation) calculation whenever you point the cam at something a little different.

As far as flash tecniques go, I recommend spending some time at http://planetneil.com/

Good link! I added it to ** IMPORTANT LINKS: EOS Flash **

thanks a lot guys! been reading a lot on flash techniques and i've hopefully been learning some too when i have time in a few days i'll mess around with flash techniques and try and better understand exposure crutch question. what would happen if i were to switch lenses while still in manual mode. would i need to re-compensate f stop / shutter speed in accordance with the new lens?

If the lens is the same f-stop speed or faster, then you don't need to change anything. Going to a slower lens when you've been shooting wide open, means ISO or shutter speed will have to change.