portait advice

Well, that's about it. I'm looking for advice on portraits and headshots. I have a theatre tech buddy who told me about a summer photography internship at an Operahouse. He has shown them some of my old production photos, and they were impressed. They said between those, aerial shots (since I'm a pilot), and some good headshots that I'd be high on their list of choices. Plus I would be between pilot certificates, so sounds like a good idea for a summer. Only problem is, I don't have a lot of portriat/headshot experience. I have several friends set to model for me over the next few months, but I would really appreciate advice on anything (lighting, posing, good backgrounds, post processing, ANYTHING). I know this is an awful question to pose since it covers a huge subject. But any of the "I wish I'd known this way back when" kind of stuff is great. I can read about the rest I'm sure. Also, I'm somewhat limited in my options with lighting. I've got an SB-600 on a D50 so no off camera flash, and a 42" 5-in-1 reflector set. I'm looking into an Alienbees strobe set, but I won't be able to afford that until after the portfolio has been submitted in December anyway. Anyway, I really appreciate any help that you can offer.

WC, if you Google portrait photography techniques as I did, you will (or should) get over 2 million hits. Take the first few and look at them and you will get some very interesting ideas and thoughts. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

Also if you look at this thread in the critique forum you'll see you're not alone and be able to glean advice http://forums.photographyreview.com/...ad.php?t=36395

Thank you both for the tips, they're both very helpful. Hopefully within the next week or two, I should have a set or two to start getting critiques on.