Rather urgent help required for a very good cause (only verbal advice)

[Brownyboy35]

Hey guys,
I've just been asked if i'd consider taking the photo's for a charity calendar shoot to raise money for Breakthrough (a British breast cancer charity) My sister very sadly died in 2003 aged only 32 of breast cancer, a couple of years before she died, she and some of her friends started raising money for the charity, it's one of her friends that asked me, sorry for digressing, but wanted to explain why i'd like to do it.

I only got asked yesterday, so don't know the whole picture yet, but basically i think it's going to be naked men in the shops they own, or work in from the High Street with products they sell covering their modesty. So it's a fun shoot basically.

It's not help with the idea, or creative side i'm looking for, but absolutely any tips anyone could give me for that kind of shoot.
I've only ever taken photographs for myself in my own time so i'm a bit out of my comfort zone,
It's not happening until the end of July, so i've got time to prepare (i hope)
I've got a Canon 450d eos, a fairly good flash gun, tripod etc, but no lights and have never used lights, other than a self portrait with an old lamp behind my head.
Here's a few of my photos just to get an idea of my 'skill' level, for want of a better term
Flickr: Brownyboy35's Photostream
Some shots will be outside but most in their shops i think.
Thank you if you've even read down this far, absolutely ANY help,tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Ps if anybody reading this lives near Kent in England and wants to give up their time to do it with/for me then i'm up for that too :-)
Many thanks

Jon

[inkista]

A flash gun is a light. If you're not very experienced with it, you may prefer keeping it on-camera and learning to bounce it and just sticking with eTTL. In that case, I'd say go find Neil van Niekerk's blog to learn about creating directional light with on-camera flash.

If you already know how to bounce, but that's too restrictive for you and you're willing to spend some cash and go to more trouble, then go strobist with the flash in Manual. Get some cheap radio triggers (Cactus V5s), a stand, swivel, and umbrella and start reading and practicing lighting.

[Brownyboy35]

Thank you inkista i'm going to look at the Neil van Niekerk's blog link now.