After recieving a Canon EOS Digital Rebel/EOS 300D for Christmas, my dear friend asked me if I would take her senior pictures for her.

Ouch.

I have been snapping pictures since i could get my fingers wrapped around the disposable ones, to my first real camera and all of the cameras in between.. but to take her senior pictures?

Oh boy.

I feel like i know nothing. We're in Ohio- the weather is cold and there's no snow.There's an Arboreatum down the road, but where do i put her? Are there any rules of thumb i should know? When i'm done- where should i go for professional printing? What should i set my camera on to make the most of the scenery and the smile?

I'm lost, willing -but scared.. and rather exited. I need all the advice that i can get.

Thanks
Sus

I am from Euclid Ohio, all I can say is set your camera to portrait mode and take some practice shots, hope it helps you. Look in your booklet for portrait, all the info will be there. Good luck.

I agree with the bitter cold leaving landscape pictures looking like sticks cold and leafless it's hard to find a good back ground for that 1 awesome shot.

If I were you i'd go for a back drop of some thing more substantual like an old red barn and pose her around an old spoke wheel or something. pretty much aim for a building backdrop to break the mold of your every day pitch a tent senior photo back drop and, if you don't feel like taking the old country road then this would be the perfect excuse to take a road trip!

...or if you have a lens that has a low aperature # thing (like F2.8) just blurr out the background (using aperature priority) Since it's snowy u might want to underexpose -.3 to -.7 step; whatever is best. On mine the snow comes out with no detail at 0.

Oh, and make sure the shutter speed doesnt fall below something like....uh...60th of a sec, unless you have a tripod. For me, i dont go below 160thish.

*edit* Oh, didnt read u have no snow...just expose the shot @ whatever looks good.

I think the trick with snow is actually over expose a bit. The metering sensor looks for a percentage of grey in a black and white of what it sees, so it sees all the snow and wants to make some of it grey because it doesn't think that it should be so white, so you end up with a dark shot. I haven't experimented enough, but i think thats how it is.

actually, your right. Today i overexposed +0.3-7ish...it worked good. :-S I always thought i underexposed...

I would just pony up the cash and pay for a professional .. hahahaha

(*smirk*)

I charge $30/hour.

lemme guess, noah. $5 for your 'agent's fee' and $25 for your dad, who'll actually be taking the pic? :P

$29 for my flight (you know, expedia has some good deals), and a $1 service charge...

...you get what you pay for. Oh, as for my dad, he doesnt take images anymore (i guess it was a: 'I'm in nepal, i'll take snapshots')...which some usually ended up lookin' pretty good.

Well i took the shots, they've turned out amazing. Thanks to everyone who has offered the support and advice. I posted one of the images- she's easy to spot.

Thanks again!
Sus