Pre-Wedding lighting practice

Hey, it's a photography business, I've got to justify shooting picture of my kids somehow, right? This is my youngest, Blake, and his buddy Evan playing around in the front yard. The bosses (my wife and Evan's mom) assigned me to go out and take pictures of the boys in their hats and scarves, so I grabbed the camera and the "Strobist Starter Kit" (SB-800 with Pocket Wizard, cable, and ball bungee [this will have to be the subject of a future post]) and we went outside to have fun.
The sun cooperated nicely, giving me a decent rim light and a 1-1.5 stop under background at ISO 100, f/8 and 1/250th of a second. Set the SB at 1/4 power, keep the kids within three or four feet, hold the camera low and the flash high, and shoot away.
Wish I had wider than 18mm on a 1.5x crop body, I could have gone really dramatic with these guys. You have to get within about six inches of the dirt to make four year olds look like this, but they (and the moms)love it when you do. More from this set on my Flickr stream.

With the first official wedding coming up on Friday, I'm going to try to get a few more chances to do some shooting like this, fast-paced and informal but still well-lit and well-balanced. I'm also going to see if I can set up an umbrella combo I can handle with my left hand and really make some sweet mobile light, but it may prove too unwieldy. A small softbox would be perfect here. That's it for now. Goodnight, and good shooting!