Very enjoyable, I think you made the right choice to take most of these in colour, for me it adds to the atmosphere and helps to portray the essence of the city.

Regards
David

Here's my two-penny's worth Paul, I know it's only an 'informal' do, but I'm guessing you want to do your very best to do it justice:

1. Take the DA 50mm F1.8 and the 55-300, the 50mm will be great for shallow DOF and low light shots and the 55-300 will be invaluable for candids. The 17-50 is the best all-rounder, but not sufficient to cover everything you will need for this type of shoot

2. See if you can beg, steal or borrow another camera body just for the day (the K-x would be ideal, it's a great camera), so you can have the 17-50 on one camera and the 55-300 on another. If you also get one of the sling straps (cheap on ebay) you can carry one of the cameras slung low and not in the way when you are using the other one.

3. Personally, I would avoid using the flash if at all possible, if you do use it, try and have fill flash only, as full flash can make images look a bit one-dimensional unless you can bounce off ceilings or have a slave flash in addition to the on-camera one. Natural light images are preferable, even if you have to bump up the ISO a little. Your 17-50 F2.8 and your DA 50 F1.8 should cope with fairly low light with no issues

4. See if you can visit the venue beforehand to judge lighting conditions, especially if it's lit by artificial light. This will help get white balance set correctly and avoid trying to adjust WB in post processing, which can be tricky and time consuming

5. Shoot in RAW

6. Make sure you keep the shutter speed up to reasonable levels, especially at longer focal lengths. Sacrifice ISO for shutter speed if necessary, you can always clean up noise but you can't get rid of camera shake in post processing

7. Related to the lighting point above, try to ascertain if the venue uses LED lights and politely request they turn them off when you're taking photos if at all possible. Most LED's will completely ruin your images, unless they are specifically designed for photography, which in normal venues they won't be. I can't stress this enough, if you have lots of LED's buzzing around, you will probably end up junking most of your shots, or processing them in black and white to lessen the issues

8. Don't be afraid of framing images tightly and using wide apertures, especially for candids as this will isolate the subjects from their surroundings

9. Try to get a 'second shooter' to help you on the day. Another person can be a great moral support, also great to bounce ideas off and will especially help in getting candid shots whilst your are busy trying to herd groups of people into the right places for group photos

10. Get something to stand on for taking group photos, i.e. small steps or similar - this helps massively in terms of getting on the right level to make the shots look professional

11. Take care with backgrounds and plan in advance where you want to take the photos. If outside, check for directional sunlight - you don't want everyone squinting

12. Use a tripod for low light shots if you can, it may also come in handy for group shots, but can be a bit inflexible when you are working quickly

13. Take a couple of spare SD cards, I have had some 64gb ones fail on me, I tend to favour the 32gb cards, these are plenty big enough

14. Take a laptop if you can, to view images on a large screen and as a backup for your cards

Hope this isn't overkill, but I do think you need to consider carefully and have a plan before you go, even though it is only 'informal'. People will have expectations of how the images will turn out and you shouldn't under-estimate how much is involved with this type of work. I hope I haven't put you off!!

Regards
David

Fabulous, just beautiful. Not only the lighting, but the way you have captured your dog too.

Regards
David

Top notch Barrie, well done indeed.

Best wishes
David

Love the first one in particular, it works very well. I applaud you for trying to be different with these and I think it has worked.

Regards
David

Trademark stuff, 2, 10 and 11 are fabulous, with 2 being my absolute favourite. I think you have the art of photographing moving water well and truly cracked.

Regards
David

Hi and welcome, we should expect great things with so many cameras?

Regards
David

Hello John, welcome back from me too.

Regards
David

The last one of the first set is the stand-out Derek, for me it's the angle used that makes it so good. The Shield bugs are hard to photograph because they are quite large and DOF is an issue, but that doesn't matter given the way you have taken it.

Congratulations on POTW, it's well deserved and I'm glad to see macro being recognised as it's often overlooked.

Regards
David

Poppies and Acer Leaves for me Gareth, although I do like all of them. The poppies in particular catch my eye.

Regards
David