Pre-Prom photos, any advice?

[MikeBcos]

My daughter has asked me to take some photos of her just before her senior prom on Friday. She wants something a little better than the average point and shoot portrait that her mother would take. :mrgreen:

She has chosen a nice location in a local park, the trouble is I have never done any type of formal outdoor portrait photography.

I have two flashes I can fire off camera, I have one 42" shoot-through umbrella. I don't have a reflector but I do have access to a couple of large sheets of white foamcore.

I'm going to do some reading through The Strobist but knowing that an 18 year old about to go to her prom isn't going to have much patience for me setting up lighting, I'd appreciate any tips anyone can give me to get some good, fast shots.

 

[NateS]

My daughter has asked me to take some photos of her just before her senior prom on Friday. She wants something a little better than the average point and shoot portrait that her mother would take. :mrgreen:

She has chosen a nice location in a local park, the trouble is I have never done any type of formal outdoor portrait photography.

I have two flashes I can fire off camera, I have one 42" shoot-through umbrella. I don't have a reflector but I do have access to a couple of large sheets of white foamcore.

I'm going to do some reading through The Strobist but knowing that an 18 year old about to go to her prom isn't going to have much patience for me setting up lighting, I'd appreciate any tips anyone can give me to get some good, fast shots.

Set them up with a nice backdrop. Go full manual. Set your aperture to wherever you want it. I'd suggest f/4 -f/8 for a couple and getting them and the dress in focus. Set your shutter speed to expose for the background (sky probably). Then setup your flash/umbrella to the side and expose the subjects with the flash.

That's the basic setup...beyond that you will have to play around and figure out exactly how you want it....general rule that I follow is expose the camera to the background/scene and use the flash to get the right exposure on your subject...easiest to do in full manual so you have the control and not the camera.

 

[MikeBcos]

Set your shutter speed to expose for the background (sky probably). Then setup your flash/umbrella to the side and expose the subjects with the flash.

Thank you, that is exactly the kind of thing I needed to know!

 

[NateS]

Thank you, that is exactly the kind of thing I needed to know!

No problem and good luck....make sure and post up a couple of the results when you get them so we can see how it went.

 

[MikeBcos]

It went well, off-camera flash was pronounced "dorky" and since I was just the guy pushing the button I had to do what I was told. I used my SB-400 directly on the camera and just did the best I could. I took photos with M, A, S, P and I even used one of the scene modes just to see what the camera would do. In every case it did a very good job, I'm happy with the results.

 

[MikeBcos]

Photobucket kills colour - these look a whole lot better before I upload them.

 

[NateS]

Good job Mike. Those don't look too bad for your first time out. A couple of them look a tad soft like you missed focus a hair, but overall I think she should be happy...much better than just p&s shots inside the house.

 

[MikeBcos]

Thanks Nate, I agree some of them are a little softer than I like, my kit lens doesn't seem to get focus spot on every time. A 35mm 1.8 AF-S will be in my bag soon, I'm hoping that will get more keepers.