Shooting an event... NEED ADVICE!!

[Heavy Surf Advisory]

i am not certain if this is the correct place for this inquiry, however.....

i was asked to shoot an entertainment event at a local restaurant. i am going down there this evening around the same time as the event later this week; Thursday 8pm.
it will be indoors, mixed crowd of people, and some "big" names in the music and entertainment indusrty(or so i'm told).
i will be using my d300, sb900 flash. i plan to grab a flexi-reflector this afternoon, as i have mine loaned out. as for glass, i have a 50, 28, 18-200, 105macro, 70-300.
my questions are:
what prep work should i be doing?
what more gear should i acquire?
any glass i should buy/rent/borrow?
any tips for making a fun and successful evening?
any settings tips?
thanks in advance,
Aaron

[Digidave]

I would take your 28mm & 50mm. Leave the others at home. Just thinking about weight & hassle of carrying the others around. You may not want to hear this but I would, without a doubt, take my first few shots in Auto Mode. Let the camera do the thinking. I hear they're pretty good at it. Then play around in Manual mode for a bit adjust the flash setting along the way. The first Auto shots will get you going in the right direction & if they turn out nice keep it in Auto. I mean, why not! If you see a big name celeb coming your way, do you want to fumbling around with your settings? Have fun with it.

[autofocus]

Good advice above from Dave on your lens choices. Shoot RAW, bounce your flash, use a plastic dome on your flash

And, how would you use this?? i plan to grab a flexi-reflector this afternoon, as i have mine loaned out

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by autofocus

. Shoot RAW, bounce your flash,

Second this - especially bouncing the flash and don't forget to use the side walls & corners!

[Heavy Surf Advisory]

yes, good advice from all. thank you.
i would use the reflector to block light from flash to subject, rotate flash head to bounce off wall.

going to scout the place this evening, discuss with owner permissions, conditions, and layout.

a friend who has a fairly elaborate setup just got into the celeb game and surf shooting and ALL he does is leave it on P. he doesnt know squat about composition, DOF, rule of 3rds...all he cares about is focus. i tell him theres more and its fun to understand about controlling more; like motion/blur, framing, removing clutter etc.... but he gets some okay shots and markets them well. this is what frustrates ME though. spent like $12k on gear, spent $0 on education. 0 time with a mentor. whatever, to each their own, but im starting get the feeling, higher end rigs should be sold to people with "photo licenses" similarly like driving; prove them skills first....but that's just my envious ass hating on his "success".

also, looking into renting 17-55 and maybe flash too, and get an assistant to help.
will know more about size of venue, color and angle of walls, ceiling height, type of lighting available.

oh, and i almost always shoot in RAW+jpeg, never saw a reason not to.

thank you for all the advice, very helpful.
Aaron

[giannispass]

Shoot in RAW for sure.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by Heavy Surf Advisory

i am not certain if this is the correct place for this inquiry, however.....

i was asked to shoot an entertainment event at a local restaurant. i am going down there this evening around the same time as the event later this week; Thursday 8pm.
it will be indoors, mixed crowd of people, and some "big" names in the music and entertainment indusrty(or so i'm told).
i will be using my d300, sb900 flash. i plan to grab a flexi-reflector this afternoon, as i have mine loaned out. as for glass, i have a 50, 28, 18-200, 105macro, 70-300.
my questions are:
what prep work should i be doing?
what more gear should i acquire?
any glass i should buy/rent/borrow?
any tips for making a fun and successful evening?
any settings tips?
thanks in advance,
Aaron

I've done a few events, and carrying the least amount as possible is best. Not just for reasons to ensure things dont get stolen, but also it'll be very difficult shooting with you have so much gear on. Unless you have gear designed to make shooting easy and carry the gear like some the rapid strap. If I had a 24-70mm f/2.8 L thats all I would have for about any event (but weddings, don't know about them). I've experienced shooting night parties (very, very dark), and in a convention center where lighting is very bad.

[Jim Bryant]

Those lenses are kit lenses and not have the low f-stop. I'd leave them at home too. No, higher up rigs should be sold only to those who actually know and understand photography.
If you have experience and knowledge you can get by and shoot perfectly good images with what equipment you currently have. There's no reason to shoot in RAW plus Jpeg as capturing both is a waste of space on your cards. RAW would give your more latitude in exposures.