Santa photos at school...help with Sony A100 F56 flash set up, please?

[rosalee]

I am shooting Santa pictures at school on Saturday for a school event. I've done this before with a Minolta Maxxum 7D and film using The Shell attached to my flash as a reflector to minimize red eyes and it left minimal shadows. I've recently bought the Sony A100 and F56 flash unit which is way more advanced than my last flash. I'll be using the Sony gear this weekend since film is not economical for this. My first flash question is what batteries do you all recommend for fast recycle times?...I don't know if my rechargeable NiMH are too old or tired but they don't seem to always keep up with the camera. Secondly, the pictures will be in the school cafeteria with a dark green backdrop, should I keep the flash camera mounted and bounce off the ceiling or attach The Shell for bounce or should I set it up off to the side using the on camera flash to fire it...I have large pieces of white foam board I can use as reflectors too. I just don't want problems with bad shadows since Santa will be closer to the backdrop and I don't have studio lighting yet. I want these to look great even though I'm not making any profit since this will be my first job in this area...we moved this summer to a new state and I'm hoping to get people interested in hiring me. And due to volume and no profit, I am not willing to photoshop post facto on these shots. Thanks for any help.

[Canuck935]

For batteries, I would suggest the energizer lithiums. They're about $10 for a four-pack. I would carry spares too. As for set up I would try setting it off just a little to the side and bouncing/diffusing it, but that's me. I would experiment a little before hand to see what works best for you. Good luck and please share your results with us!

[payn817]

If you have, or can get one light stand with an umbrella, that would help greatly. Instead of placing it 45 degrees off camera, it would need to be a little more straight forward to cover the area. I use a similar setup with the smaller Sony flash, and get pleasing results.

And, yes please post some results, and let us know how it went.

[Ronnoco]

One potential problem I see is that many fluorescents in older schools give off a temperature in the green spectrum, which added to the green background would likely give you skin colour problems.

Ronnoco

[rosalee]

If you have, or can get one light stand with an umbrella, that would help greatly. Instead of placing it 45 degrees off camera, it would need to be a little more straight forward to cover the area. I use a similar setup with the smaller Sony flash, and get pleasing results.

And, yes please post some results, and let us know how it went.

Unfortunately, I have no light stand/umbrella at the moment. I wouldn't mind getting one if I could get it here in town like at Ritz for not too much, but at the moment I am not familiar with setting one up to work with the camera and flash. I'm afraid I would need more info on how to technically work that. I get the angle issue and why it would help light/diffuse the scene, but my flash experience has been limited to on camera and with The Shell to diffuse.

[rosalee]

One potential problem I see is that many fluorescents in older schools give off a temperature in the green spectrum, which added to the green background would likely give you skin colour problems.

Ronnoco

I don't see that I'll have as much of an issue here..the school is relatively new and I've taken some photos in there before and don't remember a color issue, but I'll check to make sure. At any rate, I have a grey card/ white balance and can custom set my white balance before shooting to try and avoid that.

thanks to everyone for any and all help...this wouldn't be as scary if I had had my Sony A100 for more than a month or more digital experience period.:thumbsup:

[payn817]

Ritz usually doesn't carry them in store, unless maybe it's one of their huge locations. However, the stand the flash/umbrella mount and the umbrella ran about $70. All you do is mount the flash on the camera, turn both on. Set flash mode to wireless. Remove the flash,and place into the flash bracket facing up into the umbrella. You're ready to go . The Sony flash is more consistent than KM, it should serve you well. I have tried this with mixed lighting without problems, but your mileage may vary. Here's an example of the results.

[rosalee]

Ritz usually doesn't carry them in store, unless maybe it's one of their huge locations. However, the stand the flash/umbrella mount and the umbrella ran about $70. All you do is mount the flash on the camera, turn both on. Set flash mode to wireless. Remove the flash,and place into the flash bracket facing up into the umbrella. You're ready to go . The Sony flash is more consistent than KM, it should serve you well. I have tried this with mixed lighting without problems, but your mileage may vary. Here's an example of the results.

OK, not any harder than using flash wireless if I can find the gear somewhere before Friday. Will ask my husband if I can buy umbrella/stand after all the expenses....but, he volunteered me for this and at the time I didn't even have the Sony camera yet. So it's his fault I need all this new equipment