Advice for a porttrait shoot?

I have been asked to do a portrait shoot of my neice (3yo) and her friend (same age). If i do well, i know i might get some paying work out of this which would allow me some nice new gear! The plan is to print the finished portrait on canvas for my sister to hang (good advertising for me as she is very friendly with a lot of mums in the area who have kids the same age and would love "cheap" portraits)

My equipment is limited - 400d, Sigma 18-50 f2.8, Sigma EF 500DG ST flash.

I was thinking of trying to set up a backdrop of some sort (a white sheet draped on a wall possibly as i dont have a real backdrop).

Does anyone have any tips on how to light this? The room i will probably end up shooting in has coloured walls but a white ceiling. Theres fairly good light from the window (so long as its a good day). Do i need a second light or a reflector?

I am prepared to make a small "investment" in gear to make this work but i dont want to spend a small fortune.

Your white sheet is a good idea. Place your subject with enough distance from the background to have some control on light fall off and dof. Reflectors may be necessary to open up the shadows when using a single flash. Use some of the colors in the environment, if you can.

If you're not confident on flash techniques, try to create the best image with available light. If you feel that the available light is just not enough to create the interest that you're looking for in your images, add a flash - mix and balance with available light.

Photography is not always about the equipment. Modifying and controlling the light(available or supplemental) is totally up to you as the photographer. Use creative means to achieve direction, quality(diffuse/specul​ar), and color of the light. Simple household items such as, note paper, bedsheet, aluminum foil, mirrors, and others can be used to modify light to achieve beautiful portraits.

I don't mean to discourage you from acquiring new photo gear. Get all the equipment that you feel you may need. Equipment is often necessary to simplify the process and achieving the final product with consistency. Know, however, that all equipment needs to be tested, learned, familiarized to a point where you have a good understanding of how it will benefit your images; to a point where the equipment use becomes second nature.

Too often, an image projects a message which is more about the equipment and techniques, rather than the subject matter. Focus more on the image, the subject, the artistry of the portrait and less on the equipment. Use the gear to enhance the content of your images; don't let it become the content.

Much luck on the project

Neilwood, I am also new here and very new to INDOOR portraits....and attempting to learn lighting techniques to get away from these flat flash pictures, etc etc.

I wanted to share with you somethng I learned a week ago.....

I did a portrait shoot with some friends, their baby, etc. I, too have purchased a white and then a black background sheet to hang.

I will enlcose a link to my website where you can see the photos (The DAY family).....

Anyway..... I was thinking due to my limited lighting set-up that I must use the white background, however plain, in order to have half way decent tone/skin color,etc.

Look what I learned the hard way, I only used the black background when we were all ready to stop......... and those pictures were MUCH MUCH better!!!

Keep in mind I am just learning this indoor stuff, but my point is... The black kinda makes you look only at the people in the pictures!!! And the white was constantly throwing my white balance off, despite my efforts otherwise.

Set the kids on a low coffee table with a black backdrop draped over the table(I only had one and it was on the wall!!!....so kept crop above the waistlines....etc)

I wish I had paid more attention to the opportunity I had to capture nice shots with a background that required NO EDITING at all.

In the pictures on my website, the white background pics were WAY WAY over- POST processed!!!! (Its obvious... I am just now learning about that too....lol)

GOOD LUCK!!! Have FUN!!!!!!!!!!! You will always learn something EVERY TIME!

Georgia In Georgia

neilwood32 wrote in post #6657923
I have been asked to do a portrait shoot of my neice (3yo) and her friend (same age). If i do well, i know i might get some paying work out of this which would allow me some nice new gear! The plan is to print the finished portrait on canvas for my sister to hang (good advertising for me as she is very friendly with a lot of mums in the area who have kids the same age and would love "cheap" portraits)

My equipment is limited - 400d, Sigma 18-50 f2.8, Sigma EF 500DG ST flash.

I was thinking of trying to set up a backdrop of some sort (a white sheet draped on a wall possibly as i dont have a real backdrop).

Does anyone have any tips on how to light this? The room i will probably end up shooting in has coloured walls but a white ceiling. Theres fairly good light from the window (so long as its a good day). Do i need a second light or a reflector?

I am prepared to make a small "investment" in gear to make this work but i dont want to spend a small fortune.

Use your Sigma off camera ( as it has a optical slave built in ) and get an umbrella for it to diffuse the light, or use foram,core or a sheet or anything really, that is big and white ( the bigger and closer, the softer the shadow ( edges ). It maskes the world of difference.
Use a mirror, foam core or owen foil ( not sure about the wording here , aluminum foil ), to reflect light if the shadows are to pronounced.

I think using white sheet is not a nice idea unless you don't care if it turns gray. To keep white white you need more lights.