Editorial Portrait / New Entrepreneur

Here are my lighting diagram and pre production notes for a location photo shoot taking place this Saturday, September 22nd at 3500 De Maisonneuve, 2nd floor, Atrium.

The objective of this assignment is to execute a portrait intended for use as a magazine cover featuring New Entrepreneurs. I will be working indoors using flash and daylight coming from floor to ceiling windows. My model is Vladi. She will be playing the role of a new, young art gallery owner.

Lighting Diagram:

Pre Production Notes:

1. What is my intention in terms of how I plan to use the available light? The available daylight in my location is indirect and weak. With regards to artificial light, there are a few small ceiling tungsten lights above. I intend of using the ambient light to light the background.  
2. What is the reason for my lens choice? I only have one lens: a zoom 17-85mm lens. However, I plan on using the wide angle part of this lens because I want to include the large background paintings in the shot and give the image a feeling that it's a big space. 
3. What aperture do I plan to use and why? Explain! Because the ambient light is quite weak, I will need to use my widest aperture, which is 4.0.
4. What shutter speed do I plan to use and why? Explain! According to the light meter reading, in order to properly expose my background, I need to shoot at approx. 1/15th or 1/8th of a second. 
5. Do I have enough available light to achieve these camera settings? Just barely, but since I'm using a flash to illuminate the subject, I do not need to worry about motion blur.
6. Do I have enough strobe to achieve these settings? Yes, definitely. In fact, I will not need much power because I do not want too much contrast between the subject and the background. I'm going for a more soft, diffused lighting set-up. 
7. What type of available light will I be encountering? Indirect and weak (because the location of the shoot is somewhat distant from the windows and in a more closed narrow space/hallway. 
8. How will I be addressing this mixed light situation? A number of ways: I plan on using a grey and Macbeth color chart to have a point of reference in post-processing. Second, I will shoot one image with the tungsten setting to correct the background and shoot a second image on flash mode for the subject. That way, I have the option to use both photos in post-processing that will give me the right color for both the background and subject. Thirdly, I will try using a tungsten gel filter on the flash to match the ambient, tungsten light and set my camera on tungsten.  
9. Are there any technical problems that will need to be addressed at the shoot or in post-production? I will probably have some color correction to do, and exposure adjustment on the background (which may be slightly underexposed). Lastly, I may need to correct the lines of the painting frames on the wall behind the subject, which may distort as a result of shooting wide angle.   
10. What equipment will I need for the shoot?

• my camera, a Canon 30D
• camera lens (currently my one and only): 17-85mm (canon kit lens)
• fully-charged battery and backup;
• memory cards (with space on them to shoot)
• tripod
• light meter
• external drive
• card reader
• radio slave
• synch cord for tethered shooting
• 2 roller carts to carry equipment
• extra lenses (in case I'm not satisfied with the results using my zoom lens)
• laptop
• synch cord for flash
• 1 prophoto kit
• 2 power cords
• 3 extension cords
• 1 softbox
• 1 reflector
• 2 big stands
• 2 sandbags
• 1 superclamp
• grey card
• tungsten and fluorescent gel filters
• macbeth color chart
• tape
• location misc kit
• snacks