My Assignment with LD adults - tips wanted

[ryanlikealion]

Hello all

I am currently working as a music therapist with Adults with learning disabilities. A colleague and i have decided to produce a series of photographs which will promote the work we do/ the charity we work for/ and also to use this as an opportunity to gather some more images for our portfolios. I am faced with certain limitations which i'll mention below. These are my goals.

- To produce a photography book of 15 images representing the work we do in our "Rhythms for life group" - these will be a mixture of single portraits (there are 8 members in the group), 1 or 2 group portraits and some separate images of instruments/hands playing instruments etc

- I want the images to be black & white as I feel that these may look more professional - and i also feel like the colours in the room we have leave a lot to be desired.

- I want the project to be completed by May 2012.

Limitations

I will be working with adults with various learning disabilities - i am limited to monday afternoons 145pm - 345pm in the room we use. Not much freedom to change location.

I don't have much money to invest in equipment at this stage - i have a canon 1000 d, a canon 430 exii speedlight, good tripod, reflector, muslin material.

What I want help with?

Ideas for cheap backdrops - black or white

Is it going to be necessary to buy a soft box for my speedlite or are there cheaper alternatives?

Ideas for composition.

[karen_s]

Back drop

The muslin might work, but you may need a pretty big piece. I got a big painters cloth for maybe $30 (12' x something or other) and could still only get a 1-2 whole people (as opposed to just head shots) on it at a time. If the room isn't too cluttered and the props fit, you might be able to use it too. Sometimes a shallow DOF can make the clutter play nice. If you want a black bkg, I would think you could paint another piece of muslin or use a black sheet or curtain.

Lighting

A soft box would be great but you might be able to get away with a reflector and the black foamie thing on your speedlite. Neils blog has some great samples and it's full of tips on how to get great results with one light. If the room has a window, that could be a big help so look online for some tutorials on natural window light setups and mixing flash with ambient light.

If the walls are white or close too it, that would be a big help for being able to bounce your flash. If they are dark or strangely colored, you may want to avoid bouncing the light off the walls. Converting to black and white leaves you a little more flexibility there though.

I'd try the room out before you set up the shoot times. Grab some one on which to practice and try different things to see what works best. When the day comes, you'll be able to work faster within the short time you have.

Composition

Composition is composition wether you are shooting a tree or a dog or a cello. Same "rules" apply. To get some ideas, try Google images. I use that often just to see what other people do. (Google things like cello player, guitar player, LD musician ...)

Good luck with the project.

[ryanlikealion]

Karen

Thanks for the reply.

I've had a bit of an experiment in the room using reflector/natural light. I'll check out those links and get to work. I'm going to post some of my results in the critique section.

[Doug Sundseth]

For interior shots, you can often bounce a flash off of a piece of white foamcore or a white sheet to get most of the effect of a softbox (directional and soft lighting).