It looks like there's a good chance of landing a little gig to do a photo both for a high school grad night. This needs to be an efficient kind of production, and I'd like to have it possible to have things setup with the EOS utility to take pictures, and get them printing, as soon as possible, so the kiddies can have something to remember their night of sobriety and not getting to dance with that person they've had their eyes on for the last four years.


I want to get them in, catch them while they think they might be happy, and not worry about adjusting the focus or getting them to hold still.


That means greater depth of field, smaller aperture, and FLASH.


My 30D has a flash. But almost every picture i've taken with the onboard flash on either the 30D or my Rebel XT has been pretty sucky.


I'd like to do this well, but I don't want to spend a huge chunk of money. I know that some of you have suggested using a big speedlite bouncing off ceilings, but I don't know if I can rely on having a ceiling, or what not. I was wondering about maybe getting a couple of economical umbrella flash kits, and maybethe 'cheap' speedlight for fill from the front....


This caught my eye, inspired by remembering that wad of recycling that comes in the mail regularly... http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/CF0502K1/


I'd like to keep the lighting budget under $600, total.


Any suggestions?