Pictures at a Dance

[photoman]

Hi everyone

I an planning on doing some pictures of couples at my high school x-mas ball. I was planning to have some kind of background and take their pictures.
I am going to shoot them on Med Format on 120 or 220 kodak 400 VC
I have a mamiya 645 pro and was planning to use a 80mm lens ( i have a 55mm and 150mm)
I have a backdrop i could use but no props (i think the school and some kids will set up something)
Right now i have four 611 sunpack flashes (three i have battries for and one i could use the power pack for) i have a set of filters for the flashes and two difuses light and heavy and some color.

any ideas for light source i dont have any sort of lighting and the flashes will work better because they are almost daylight temp.

I was thinking of some photo poses to take but i dont know if i will have any competition (DigiQuick might be their i dont know) i belive my prices are lower.

Any suggestions for using the flashes as the light source and back drop suggestions and props. I do have a tripod for the camera.

Any suggestions would be helpful, anyone do this type of work before
certain types of poses that always work?

I have never done this before and am a little nervous

btw(im in high school now and will know the people im taking the pic of)
I only have about a week from now to set up its next friday or sat i dont know right now.

any advice would be helpful

Thanks in advance

 

[voodoocat]

You're not going to get good results using 400 with indoor lighting. Get nice flash and bracket (rent one if you have to). The 80mm lens will be good up to 3/4 length portraits. Anything closer and the perspective becomes unflattering. Personally I like the longer lenses to throw the background out of focus.

 

[Dew]

i just left another post about indoor photography ... im with voodoo about the flash ... i wouldnt do it ... i think its a bad, bad thing :shock:

anywho, i would rent the external flash... i wouldnt use too many trendy props, i would keep it simple and perhaps play with it a bit. i do a lot of studio photography and find myself using a few different poses over and over, but not group shots .... i would do something interesting and have each of them in a different pose... depending on how "informal" or "formal" they want this to be

i think its important to ask them what they want to have their personality shine through or if u know them, thats better.

a lot can go wrong in a situation like this; loud music, people rushing you.. if u keep your head and not get distraceted, u should do well.. also stay focused, check your lighting... ur on film, a lot of photographers check their lighting on a polaroid or digital camera to get into the ballpark ... the last thing u want to do is have a whole roll of film under or over-exposed.

other than that, have fun and be friendly with your subjects, it will shine through the camera... i have a lot of subjects tell me that the photographer wasnt very friendly or talkative that made them feel uncomfortable

 

[seanarmenta]

that's a very good set up you've got going already.

those 4 sunpaks will be more than enough lighting. plus they have slaves, so you just need to connect one flash to the camera via sync cord and everything else will fire. those flashes also have manually adjustable power over 4 stops, which will give you exellent lighting ratios.

i'm assuming you have a handheld light meter and some light stands?

use one head to light the background, positioning it behind your subject/s. have that light at a 1:1 ratio with your main light.

position your main light 45 degrees from the camera to subject axis and have the light higher than the subject's head. position your fill light on the opposite side, at a slightly lower height than your main. if you set your main light at full, set your fill at 1/4th. meter from the subject position with the meter aimed at the camera.

this is a very basic lighting scheme. if you want, you can use two lights on the background to illuminate it evenly.

make sure you have at least 6 feet of space between the background and your subject.

i would also suggest using some diffusion material to make the light from the flash less harsh. you can do this by placing some white material (rip stop nylon, or a white bedsheet) in between the light and subject, or by bouncing the flash onto a white foamboard.

use the 150mm, though you may have to use the 80mm for larger groups. when using the 80, remember to always shoot straight on, as shooting from a lower or higher angle will cause distortion.

good luck

 

[photoman]

Thanks for the comments Im hoping for the best

What would you do for external lighting

this isn't going to be the main light or anything just a light so i can focus and compose the shot.

Would a 100 watt lightbulb with a metal reflector work or do i need a lamp or something with diffuse light?

Has anyone had experience with this?

Thanks again for the help