Portraits what to use

I just did a series of banners for a homepage to a company. They were very exicted about the outcome. ( I will give you the url when it is up and running)

They now booked me for shoting portraits of every employee (25 persons).

First of all - what should they pay me for this??

Second - what do I need - help!!

I own the K10D with enough lenses. I have the 540 flash and a 160 as well (and a few oldies I can't remember).

What I think I need is a background. Other than that I hope I can manage with the 540 - can I? I was wondering if I should get a umbrella with stand for the flash. I have a set of reflectors as well. Could I use this to reflect the light so I only have to use the 540 - or do I need two flashes/with umbreallas or similar????

Any feedback appriciated. Also links please......

I'm not planning for a studio rig as it is now - I hope I can do it without this investment.

One flash and a silver reflector will do very well. I have a couple of Lastolite backgrounds that come in handy for this sort of thing. 25 portraits might take the best part of a day including travelling and setting up so I would charge my daily rate, calculated as follows D=(y/365)where y is the amount of money you would like to earn in a year.

Surely not /365?

Thanks - could you be more specific - how to do - setup.

I guess you want to reflect the light - how? 45 angle shot or?

Would you use an umbrella for the flash?

Set your fl;ash to wireless mode. Use your flash at a bout 45deg. from your camera and higher too. Use the on board flash to control contrast. That is the easiest way to do it for a beginner, you don't have to carry a ton of material, and the results are generally pretty good. Just experiment with main flash position before the shoot to see what seems to work best for you.

Do you mean the pop-up flash?


Gartmore - which backgrounds do you use? I see it is lastolite - how big do you recon I should use?

Portraits is quite a new world for me. I'm going to shot the 2nd September so I have some time to pratice

(52 weeks - 5 weeks (holidays) in a working year) * 5 (working days in a week) = 235 (working/money earning days per year)

Of course, you could use 365 if you want to grind yourself into an early grave.

Nimitz, the backgrounds I use are here link. I noticed that on the Lastolite home page there are some useful potrait tutorial videos.

If you are not too far from your subject, pop-up flash works fine.

Thanks all.

Another question.

I have seen some softboxes (Ezybox for hotshoe) - anyone ever used these??? I'm thinking aobut using a 60*60 model with the 540 fgz.

I did some corporate pictures recently, and I used backgrounds that had the company logo. The logo was slightly out of focus, drawing attention to the employee, but customers / potential customers were still aware of the company 'presence'.
So your flash / umbrella set up, with a company 'presence' in the background, might fit the bill

Very good idea. Thanks for that. I will try ask if that is possible.

D=y/220 to allow for weekends, vacations, long service leave etc etc is a more common contractors formula in this country. Given you supply equipment etc, perhaps the formula should use a number much lower than 220!
cheers
bb2

Anyone have any pictures of your setup?

Could someone provide me with a guide/link to how to set up flashes for portraits.

[link]=http://strobist.blogspot.com/[/link]
link
link
use your spouse, set up your lights on lightstands with umbrellas on manual. use some string (as a measuring tape) and workout a setup that works, and can be repeated easily.
get your umbrellas as close to your subject as possible. Try mastering one light and a reflector, then try two lights and a reflector.