Will be doing my first portrait session. Christmas presents for family. Setup help!

[GTHill]

My wife is one of five girls, so I have decided to take individual pictures of the husbands (five including the father) and they can in turn give it to their wives for Christmas.

I currently have the following equipment:

D300
12-24mm f/4
18-55mm f/2.8
70-300 f/4.5
SB-600 Flash
SB-800 Flash

I would like the final product to be in B&W, although I am open to suggestions.
If I need more equipment, I'll buy it per your suggestions.

What do I use for a background? Any "themes" or sites you can point me to for inspiration?

Also, what is the best way to prep for the shoot? I can use my wife as a stand in for test shots, which would probably be a good idea. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

GT

 

[chrisburke]

i would suggest checking out prophotolife.com they have LOTS of great video helps in rgards to portraits and set up

 

[GTHill]

Thank you very much for the link. I watched 5 or so videos last night. Very informative!

GT

 

[Village Idiot]

Er. Spend some money?

If you don't have them already, two light stands, umbrella adapters and umbrellas. That's like $110. You can use CLS to wirelessly trigger the flashes. Use one as a key and one as a fill.

You could even get away with free. A Voice Activated Light stand (homo sapien) and a sheet or something to shoot through and the SB600 on the camera would even work.

www.strobist.com