Advice on shoot with kids

[Skidder]

Hello,

My wife and her sister want some pictures of my son, neiece and nephew to give as an aniversary present for the grandparents. It is their ruby aniversary so they want to theme the shots with the kids in red clothes and with pretty stark backgrounds. Let's say the kids hopefully naturally posed with the backgrounds effectively white or washed out.

Following a (thankfully) aborted effort to get shots done through Venture (rip off merchants and poor service IMHO) the task has fallen to me.

I am enjoying photography and I guess I have the basics down but I'm seeking a bit of advice as to how to get teh best from this, as the kids patience will not be unlimited. The kids are 7 months x2 and 2 years x1 so they are moving targets and unpredictable!

I have a 400d and plan to use an EF 50 1.8 and Tamron 17-50 2.8. I have a 430 ex flash gun.

I would like to get shots that show the kids clearly and bring out the red in their clothes but have white / faded backgrounds.

What would you guys suggest? This will most likely be indoors. Would a sheet as back drop be a help?

Wide aperture to fade the background? How best to use the flash? Any tips in advance of this would be much appreciated. Thanks

Skidder

 

[Skidder]

dont get caught



sorry had to be said

if only I'd said shooting kids or something similar your gag would have worked, instead it didn't

 

[Skidder]

thanks guys, great stuff

I will post some of the shots when done (will be shooting over the weekend)

 

[Skidder]

I tried to replicate the venture look that my wife and sis in law liked with them. I'm pretty pleased given that I am very much in the early stages of learning photography. The lighting was terrible and I only had about 5 mins of the three kids cooperating.

I welcome any feedback

 

[Skidder]

thanks guys, good advice