First family event: 1st bday celebration

Hi all.

My friend has asked me to be the photographer for his daughter's 1st b-day party. This is an Indian 1st b-day party and can get rather large as he is expecting 100+ people. The event will take place at a banquet hall and I'm not sure what the lighting situation will be. Based on the description and pics they have an advanced lighting system and can adjust the mood pretty easily. I guess I will have to ask my friend if he's going to keep it dim or brightly lit because there will be lots of kids.

I'm not a professional photographer but have been doing a lot of travel, landscape, and architectural photography as a hobby. I don't take many portraits but when I do they come out pretty decent. The only concern I have is flash photography. I own a simple 430 EX II, but just not comfortable with it. I've been reading a lot of articles and tutorials on flash photography and hopefully by this weekend I can put it to practice. The hall has high ceilings and bouncing light will be difficult. I just hate direct flash and how it sometimes casts ugly shadows on the person or the background. Another challenge I was told is that one wall is mirrored.

I will be moving around a lot as this space is a good size, with lots of kids, and want to carry only the essentials. What should I take with me? I'm currently thinking about the following:

1. 35mm f/1.4L
2. 70-200 f/4L IS
3. 430 EX II
4. spare batteries (for body and flash)
5. sto-fen diffuser

Should I take my 16-35 & 24-70? I prefer the 70-200 for candid photos from a distance.

Any good tips on using the flash? I simply put it on ETTL and the camera to manual mode and play around with the flash exposure compensation until I get the exposure I want.

The key will be to know if it's dim or dark. I can't imagine a kid's first birthday party would be lit very darkly.

If it's bright enough, a 5D2 at ISO 1600-3200 coupled with your 35 1.4 will give you a good chance to shoot w/o flash. Maybe your 70-200 w/o flash also, but you'll probably end up with motion blur, either from you or the movement of your subjects.

If it were me, the 24-70 would be on the camera all day and I'd be bouncing my flash off walls and ceilings with the help of a bounce card (I don't believe in using diffusers like Stofen or others). And as you indicate, adjusting FEC as necessary. Maybe the 70-200 for close ups with the help of flash. And bring a few sets of batteries for the flash.

I did similar for my own son and a friend's daughter. Better to have two cameras, otherwise I will go with the zooms. I was using 28-75 on my 1dmk2 and lot of times it wasn't wide enough. particularly for the cake cutting shots. 70-200mm will be too much IMHO.

Next time I am going to setup some remote flashes in the corners and use on camera flash as fill.