Brothers HS prom shots

[Olympus8MP]

So it sounds like I'm doing photos of my younger brother and his date for prom at his high school. They will most likely be done outdoors in a nearby park, where I can choose from sunny to shade and in between. There is a very nice rock garden with a stream that I will most probably use as a background. What should I keep in mind as far as technical items, such as composition, positioning, and exposure? I don't have any professional studio equipment, like lights or anything, and I've only got the built-in flash, so I'm going to try to make the most of ambient light. Of course I will be shooting in RAW, so I can compensate for any bad exposures. It is not paid, but rather I'm doing it as a favor for my brother and parents. This would be next weekend.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Get fill cards and reflectors, use as shallow DOF as possible by shooting long focal lengths.

 

[Olympus8MP]

Where can I get fill cards and reflectors? Can I make them?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Sure, fill cards are nothing but white foam core (think office depot), and you should be able to buy reflectors at any good camera store. I'd be careful about making your own reflectors because they can create uneven lighting and you may not be able t bend and twist them like store bought ones.

With those, you can actually create lighting, balance harsh daylight, and if you also get a black card and staple it to the back of a white card, or paint one side of the white card black, you can have a fill card and a black card in one! So if it's an overcast day, use the black card side to create shadow ratios, and if it's daylight, use the white card side to fill in the shadows with light and balance the exposure!

Oh I also forgot about scrims. Scrims are nothing but fine screens that you can put between the light source and your subject to shade out the sunlight, thus turning down the shadow ratio of your subject.

for reference, the ratio could be 8:1 with direct sunlight, 8 is how bright the sun is, and 1 is how bright the shadow is. A scrim could take that down to 6:1, reflector can bring it up to 8:6, fill cards can make it 8:4 etc.. all depending on where you place them in relation to your subject.

A gold reflector should be nice if you're shooting in color.