Holiday Photo Booth

[floridafan]

Hey there! My wife is the photographer but does not like to spend her entire day on a computer, so I try to research stuff for her.
Each year she does a Photo Booth for the employees of my client. We have a nice frame and a Holiday backdrop (10x10?), 2 fixed lights a D850 and a D7100, both with speed lights ( SB900 and SB700). We have a stand for mounting the flash on and an electronic thing to take the picture remotely.
My wife struggles a bit with flash and lighting, she is best at outdoor nature photography.

She has a Nikon 120mm, a Nikon 12-24mm, an older Nikon 35-70MM, a Nikon 85MM and a few other lenses that she normally uses outside although she also has an older Nikon 80-200.
Those are all FX

On the DX she has a Nikon 16-85, a Nikon 18-140, and a Nikon 18-200 which was her favorite lens before she got the D850.

Any ideas on what to read up on for Flash Photography? She is not really a novice, but flash is something she is not confident with.
Any suggestions on how to best utilize the equipment she has?

 

[tirediron]

Try the Strobist Blog.

 

[floridafan]

Try the Strobist Blog.

That looks EXCELLENT!

 

[Strodav]

Recommend you start by looking at last year's pics to see what you like and what you don't. Then build your set at home and test / play with your equipment, especially lighting set ups, in advance of the shoot. You can be her model. I recommend you stay with the D850, the Nikon 120 for head shots, the Nikon 85 for head and shoulder shots and the 35-70 for whole body / group shots, maybe the 12-24 if things get spread out. Bring the D7100 as backup. You'll probably want to use the 2 fixed lights and both flashes. You might want to pick up a bracket to get one flash off the camera and get a soft box kit for the flash like https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06ZYLZ8CL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I would use the 2nd flash remotely as a back light. Good luck. These kinds of shoots can be fun at Christmas time.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Maybe you need to think about getting another photographer for your client's employees' holiday photos. If your wife is a landscape photographer I'm wondering if it's stressful for her to try to do this. It's different if it's for family or a friend but for a client maybe it would be better to hire someone that does portrait work. It's a matter of her practicing with the lighting equipment enough to be able to do it well; seems like time and work for your wife if she isn't going to do portraits otherwise.

 

[floridafan]

Maybe you need to think about getting another photographer for your client's employees' holiday photos. If your wife is a landscape photographer I'm wondering if it's stressful for her to try to do this. It's different if it's for family or a friend but for a client maybe it would be better to hire someone that does portrait work. It's a matter of her practicing with the lighting equipment enough to be able to do it well; seems like time and work for your wife if she isn't going to do portraits otherwise.

No she has a lot of fun with it. She has done weddings which are much more stressful than a Christmas party. She does not charge and the pictures come out awesome. I was inquiring to help her get to the next level. I think the link above will do that for her.

 

[floridafan]

Recommend you start by looking at last year's pics to see what you like and what you don't. Then build your set at home and test / play with your equipment, especially lighting set ups, in advance of the shoot. You can be her model. I recommend you stay with the D850, the Nikon 120 for head shots, the Nikon 85 for head and shoulder shots and the 35-70 for whole body / group shots, maybe the 12-24 if things get spread out. Bring the D7100 as backup. You'll probably want to use the 2 fixed lights and both flashes. You might want to pick up a bracket to get one flash off the camera and get a soft box kit for the flash like https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06ZYLZ8CL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I would use the 2nd flash remotely as a back light. Good luck. These kinds of shoots can be fun at Christmas time.

Thank you! Great ideas!
I think we have a soft box for the flash too, almost forgot that.

 

[floridafan]

Maybe you need to think about getting another photographer for your client's employees' holiday photos. If your wife is a landscape photographer I'm wondering if it's stressful for her to try to do this. It's different if it's for family or a friend but for a client maybe it would be better to hire someone that does portrait work. It's a matter of her practicing with the lighting equipment enough to be able to do it well; seems like time and work for your wife if she isn't going to do portraits otherwise.

And she really enjoys shooting people. We both just like walking in the woods which results in nature shots.