Just for Beginners, post your questions, ask for help, get opinions...
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I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place or not.

I'm so sorry that this is such short notice for me to be asking everyone to respond to this. I have my first photo shoot today at noon. It will be at the client's house. The only equipment I have is a Canon EOS 40D, 50 mm f/1.4 USM, lens hood, 580 EX flash, & a Gary Fong Whale Tale. I'm soooooooooo nervous I want to make sure I have everything set right. My question is what would you all set your manual controls on the camera at and what settings would you use for your flash. Sorry everyone I'm a wreck. Since this is my first time J I just want everything to turn out so good and get my name out there as a good photographer. They say the best advertisement is word of mouth; I need this to turn out good.



Thank you all for all your help, ALWAYS!!!!



Karenjean :o
You do have a good equipment...
Yes, time is short to answer, but the main difficulty is we have no other clue about the kind of subject (portrait, group, reportage, children...) and the kind of lighting, rooms dimensions, color of walls...

I'll stay in very general advice:
- manual settings may give you the best results, but they are the most risky, so:
- above all don't stress too much, and be confident on your equipment, shoot at least part of your session in program mode and auto flash
- check your display and histogram regularly, not for every shot, but when lighting changes
- with a wide aperture, you may risk available light at high ISO (800 ASA will give you a good margin)
- shoot raw, it gives much more room in post-processing
- If the rooms are small and walls and ceiling are clear, use bounce flash. Here again try 400 or 800 ISO and check your display and histogram
- For a portrait or small group session, beware of mirrors or glass reflection in front of you... (here again check display), or try a mix of bounce and direct light (Maybe that's what your Gary Fong thing is for?)
- If you have some time before the shooting session, do a few test shots

Be confident on your skills and concentrate on the subject... and tell us what the result will be!
Michel B
PSE6, 11,12,13.1 - LR 5.7 Windows 7 64 - OneOne Photo Perfect Suite - Canon 20D, Pana TZ6 - Fuji X100S
Most used add-ons: Elements+


Mes Galeries
I wish I could go out and practice ahead of time, but unfortunately I'm at work so I can't get out and practice. I'm taking these shots over my lunch hour. They are for a lady (1 person) here at work who wants to give them to her husband for an anniversary present. This session is for free, it will be a while before I start charging anyone. My plans are to do a few sessions for free just to get started and get my name out there. The client said something about taking some pictures in front of her fireplace. she also stated she had a big picture window I might do some in front of. Thank you so much for the advice on where to start and what to do. I've read the manuals from front to back but stupid me didn't have my camera or flash in front of me to know what the book was talking about. Plus I'm a hands on person.

Thank you again so much

Karenjean
Hi Karenjean,

Good luck on your photo shoot today. Post some of your results -- the friendly folks here will be happy to offer suggestions. I have gotten much better thanks to response whenever I have asked for help and/or comments.

When you start a thread, don't worry too much about which of the forum sections it should go into. Many of the people here simply click "new posts" after logging in so we'll see it no matter where you put it. Also, don't post the same thing twice - you may start getting answers to both posts and you'll go nuts skipping back and forth between them :D

I deleted your other post -- the one with no responses posted yet -- so you will have all of your comments in one place.

Continue to hang out here, you'll have a lot of fun. This is a friendly group. When I want help I will make a point of saying something like, "Critique welcome, please." Otherwise, if I've posted a really bad image, people may be too nice to say anything :biggrin:

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
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