Hello every one,I'm just wondering if any of you had any experience with shooting school portraits...I will be shooting for the first time this october. any hints will be much appreciated. I have a Background Kit and Bowens Gemini 400 2-Light Kit -- Mac Henein Toronto http://www.flickr.com/photos/machenein/

Is it for elementary, or high school? -- Richard M. http://richardphoto.webs.com/- See my new website!

shoot at the childs eye level, i shoot dance schools and always keep the lighting set up simple. i shoot through a single diffuser 1m in dia and place it just above the lens so you dont cast any shadows on the backdrop and give a nice clean light on the subject. i also use a 24in hd screen tethered to my k7 for instant review of the child to make sure they are in focus and for checking histagram. you also get to see the finished product and can adjust your poses if they dont look right. best advise is to do a test shoot at home and set your cameras wb and exposure, most important is to have fun dont stress the kids love someone relaxed and use manual mode and make slight adjustments along the way. also once the kids see them selve on the big screen they will get involved and give you better poses and smiles. if you cant get the groups right i spin the screen around to the kids switch the k7 to live view and they can see how messy they are and will straighten up. back up, back up, back up.........your card every class.cheers don

Richard: Jk to grad 8 -- Mac Henein Toronto http://www.flickr.com/photos/machenein/

For individual portraits, you want the heads to be the same size in the viewfinder. When I was doing this sort of work with Camerz cameras, the screens were marked for head placement and size.This is to make post production as fast as possible. If the heads are all different sizes in the pictures, then resizing everything is a nightmare.

Thanks Don, So you use only one light? no hair light? can you tell me more about the tethered connection? I'll be using my K5 Thanks -- Mac Henein Toronto http://www.flickr.com/photos/machenein/

I use my K20D and window light to shoot ID photos each year for about 400 middle school students during their orientation.Be relaxed and learn how to make them smile - they're at an age that lots of them don't like to smile much.Someone already said this --- get the heads all the sam size and make sure the camera is level.Use the camera's file #'s and record this next to their names.Have someone (a voluteer) help you with this.Get the white balance and exposure right the first shot to the lastShoot JPEG's, not PEF's.Isolate your subject so others are not making fun of him or her.Move things along efficiently.Do absolutely everything based on doing as little post-processing as possible at home.The whole process is actually fun really.

i use a hd screen that i have made a plate for . i took the base of the screen and screwed a peace of 3mm aluminium to it and taped a 1/4" thread so you can screw the tripod head to it just make sure its a heavy tripod i use the old second hand ones that i get from the markets. $20 screen $150 and attach it through the hdmi cable on the camera. it operates just like the rear lcd. but i think this is where the k5 is going to let you down i dont think it can oriantate the pic in portrait mode ? i spin the screen to portrait framing and the camera k7 can match it. i might be wrong! but give it a try it might only didplay the portrait on a landscape screen. the system works very well and your not constantly looking at the tinny camera screen wondering if you got it right. i also program the camera for 4x magnifacation on preview so you not fiddling with buttons. to see critical focus. it sounds like alot of work but when you start its great fun. it just ruins your hobby as you get photographied out with so many photos and processing ! its the only down side. for me any way.cheers don