What’s Your Preference?

tricia108 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-05-2009, 04:12 AM

Hi everyone,
I have recently been commissioned by a friend to do Christmas pics with Santa for children and pets. I am quite new to photography and my friend is aware of this but has complete faith that I will 'figure it out'!! I am hoping you guys may be able to help with some details. I have always leaned more to landscape photography so portraits are going to be a stretch....
I will be shooting inside a large store with horrific flourescent lighting and the stage that has been chosen will have a very large background window letting in lots of backlighting. Also, there will be many Christmas trees and ornaments all lit up. If you can't tell, lighting is my major worry!!

I have a Canon XSI with only the on-camera flash. Will this be sufficient or should I look into purchasing a separate flash? If so, any suggestions for a reasonable one? Would a reflector be the way to go to reflect the window light? How can I avoid red eye without too much post production work? I find the on camera red eye removal does not work well. The pics will be printed at the store and given to people right away so I have to make sure all settings on the camera are perfect.
I am ubber nervous about this as it will be my first 'paying job'!!
Also, any tricks for getting kids and pets to pay attention would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks in advance to everyone. I REALLY appreciate ANY help you could provide.

rpcrowe · #2 (**permalink**) 11-05-2009, 08:12 AM

NEVER USE BUILT-IN FLASH!

You should use a pair of studio strobes for this job and bounce them into umbrellas.

Price-wise, you can't go wrong with a pair of White Lightning 5000 strobes at $80.00 each. These models are like the Energizer Bunny "They keep going and going!" I have used a pair for 20 years and they were purchased used.

WHITE LIGHTNING 5,000 STUDIO STROBE FLASH MONOLIGHT - eBay (item 350267532000 end time Nov-19-09 09:32:17 PST)

Two stands and a pair of umbrellas can also be cheap on eBay.