First time shooting a rehearsal dinner and reception

[ChicagoT]

Hi all!
Ill make it quick!
I am shooting a rehearsal/reception for a friend. I have a canon 40d and a 430ex speedlight with a dome diffuser.
I have a few questions
- I want to rent a better Lens for the event. Any suggestions?
- Any tips or tricks for good exposures?
- Ideas for fun composition
- and any other advice would be welcome.
Thanks everyone! Ill post a link to the shots afterwords!

[olgabe]

Get a 50mm f1.4 prime lens is addition to whatever you have. I don't have that one, but I tested it before and it's awesome.
Other folks may shoo me on this, but I like to shoot with a prime lens like that without any flash in the restaurants in the evening, and underexpose by about a stop - that allows the shutter speed to be ok for hand holding in most cases, and keeps the images a little dark, so it implies the evening setting.

Yeah, you can expose correctly with flash and you will have more flexibility in post, but I prefer natural light in most cases.

[KathrynWilson]

Gotta do both I think - drag the shutter sometimes. To a degree I like to use a fast lens and push the camera to get the exposure, but supplementing light with flash sometimes will help ou to get some higher quality files as well.

For example, these were all taken in a venue where the natural light exposure at ISO1600, f1.8 and SS1/100 was still quite dark - i.e. I would have had to bring it up a bit in post. I shot a few like that, but I also took these with some flash added to the mix (settings ISO400, f2.8, SS1/15), and they're overall of a much higher quality and easier to work with.