[littledrawe]

These photos are going to be for a playbill for a highschool play so it will probably be individual head shots, a group photo and maybe some of the set pieces.

I have a K-7 and either a tokina 60-120mm f2.8 or tamron adaptall 2 90mm f 2.5 I will use for the head shots.

It will be done most likely on the stage so there are a lot of stage lights and such. I will have a flash off camera with an umbrella but I am wondering about specific things I need to do to get these shots right so they look good when printed, they will be relatively small with multiple pictures on each page I've heard that I need a high ISO for printing like this but I'm not sure, if so why?
Is there anything specific I need to do with the flash, am I ok to have it off camera to one side and work on getting exposure right?

[Mareket]

If you're using flash in addition to the stage lights then make sure you balance the flash colour temperature. You can usually get filter samples from Lee for a pittance, and those are just big enough to velcro on to the top of a flash head.

Not sure about the high ISO thing, but it might have to do with how sharp they appear, in which case you should make sure you sharpen them appropriately for print beforehand. They might look odd on screen.

Get the flash off camera to one side and think about how you want your background to appear, think about flash fall-off and how you want the shadows to look. You'll probably want a fairly neutral portrait, so you don't want to have the umbrella too close, but this will illuminate the backgrounds as well. If you want a darker background try and get a large piece of paper to reflect light into the shadows or something.

And you want them to be consistent, try and keep the lighting and subject in as similar a position as possible. If you only have a manual flash you should still be ok as long as you get the exposure right beforehand, but beware of losing battery charge! Take a MILLION spare batteries, just in case. If you can get multiple flash heads of the same brand and trigger them at once you can get much faster recycle times because you can shoot two flash heads at half the power. Fun stuff!

[littledrawe]

You'll probably want a fairly neutral portrait, so you don't want to have the umbrella too close, but this will illuminate the backgrounds as well. If you want a darker background try and get a large piece of paper to reflect light into the shadows or something.

I was wondering if a constant light with an umbrella would help as well to be able to move around and help if the shadows are overpowering?

[Mareket]

It'd make it much easier to position your light for shadows, and you'll be set for power, but I've heard of issues with colour temperature drift, though I doubt it'll be anything huge that you can't correct for in post. Not so sure about using flash units and actual lights together but I'm sure you could get a simple key and fill light set-up going on with that.

The closer to your subject your light is, the more dramatic the shadows will be, but the you'll need a much lower power setting. You could probably get a more powerful constant light that you can use further away and the shadows would be pretty manageable then, but I've not tried that before so I'm not so sure. There's probably someone else here who can help in that regard though.

[panoguy]

I am wondering about specific things I need to do to get these shots right so they look good when printed, they will be relatively small with multiple pictures on each page I've heard that I need a high ISO for printing like this but I'm not sure, if so why?

There's no reason why, because someone has their terms messed up. They probably mean you need a "high resolution" for printing (typically 300 dpi) which, if you're using a K-7, is no problem for portraits or even crops.

But this is for a High School playbill? Check first that it will be printed in color (!), then be sure you use a consistent colorspace (Adobe RGB in camera, in processing, and in the RGB TIFFs you hand off) and that your monitor is calibrated, as much as you can do it. And if it is in color, it will probably be digital prints (not offset), so imagine that your images will print darker and more contrasty than you see on screen.

Next, treat it like a professional photo shoot like you'd do for Broadway. I'd suggest getting to the stage way earlier than the "talent" does, but ask that the lighting manager be there to man the board, and use a stand-in (stage managers are great for this) to get your headshot lighting right. Do the headshots first, of course, and if they are in-costume do a head/shoulders portrait (no sense wasting that finery). Maybe ask if the "house lights" can be turned on, as they will fill almost everything.

Then coordinate the staging of the group shot with the director (having some seated, some in the scowl of their character, etc.) and shoot, shoot, shoot. Most likely your flash won't be enough for the group shot, except to lighten shadows. Rely on the stage lights and maybe bracket exposures to get the set properly lit (don't use the brackets for the people, they blink or move).

Finally, since it's a professional shoot (no matter who for, or how much $), show up early, be smooth and efficient, and tell people what to do and how to pose. That's your job. Their job is to listen and look pretty.

[Ash]

Good advice so far. A wired/wireless flash on a stand with umbrella is a versatile portable lightin setup that will give you a lot of flexibility on the move. And taking a million spare batteries is an exaggeration. Just 990,000 will do.