Middle school dance portraits -- ideas?

[BorisMD]

Hi all,

I'm no pro, but know my way around an f/stop, etc.

My darling wife, a middle school teacher, has, ahem, recruited me to help chaperone the middle school dance, and as a part of that, to take portraits (the kids will get a photo printed off my little Epson PictureMate for $1 -- it's a fundraiser for a school trip).

Here's what I've got for equipment:

Canon Digital Rebel XT
Nifty Fifty
24-70L 2.8
EF-S 10-22
70-200L f/4 IS
Speedlight 430EX II (w/omni diffuser)
Tripod w/ball head.
An OLD sunpak flash on a crappy old tripod with a photoelectric eye to use as a slave (might get triggered by pre-flash from the 430 if that fires).

The setting will be a generic middle school hallway outside the cafeteria.

I'm usually not a big portrait kinda photographer, but I don't mind experimenting a bit, and I'm not shy around these kids.

So, any ideas on how to maximize the setting and equipment to come up with something that doesn't look like a) a mugshot, or b) a photo from some booth at the mall?

I can grab some chairs or a table from the cafeteria if needed.

Thanks,

Boris

[zona5101]

Have the wife get her students made you a backdrop that you can pin or tape to the wall. Then line em up and shoot 'em. If you can't get the 430 off camera, dial it down or difuse it. It will need to trigger the old crappy sunpac as your main light that you shoot though an umbrella or light panel...
good luck and hjave fun. At that age those kids are gonna love what ever you do, even if it looks like a mug shot or something from a photo booth machine.

[konrad]

I think that the most interesting results (both for you and for the kids) would be of a candid-type of pictures during the dance. It is also possible to grasp portrait-like pictures this way and the final result might be of more 'fun' for the kids. Alternatively, I would try to take group portraits, i.e. of 2-4 kids, showing their friendships or some kind of a relationship between them. Concerning the post-processing, I would make sure that the colors are nicely saturated. Hope this helps and have fun!

[BorisMD]

Thanks for your advice.

It turned out pretty well. Kind of a seat of the pants experience. The photos the kids wanted were of groups -- with the smallest group being three.

They really liked them, and purchased many shots off my little portable printer. Good fund raiser for the class trip.

I ended up using some of the large tear off roll paper for a background.

I also had a small space to work in, so my 10-22 came in real handy for the large (>20 people) class shots.

Regards,

Boris