Nope, the 70-300 is not useless for portraits
(Just looking at the focal length, I could be wrong once I know the f number)
at 300mm the background will look closer than it actually is.

I am not the one to advice you when it comes to photographing portraits in well lit rooms,
you could tell him to dress up nice and you have to look at some portraits here at DA to get inspiration

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' Photography is not a sport. It has no rules. Everything must be dared and tried! ' - Bill Brandt

and say 'cheese' lol

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How does it change many dyslexics to take a light-bulb?

Actually, the best portrait lenses (i think) are 85mm
The best would be to have low dof. THe 18-55 is quite awfull, in particular for the fact that the smaller f is 5.6. Unless the background is quite faraway, you will find many problems.

You will need some very nice lighting setup to do indoor ISO 100 photos with the 18-55 without tripod.
If its outdoors, like said, try the 70-300.

Indoor or outdoor? what lightning?

Any chance you can get your hands on a 50mm f/1.8 lens before the shoot. This is a fantastic little lens which delivers great pictures, has a wide aperture which is good for portraits and shooting indoors and is also a good length for portraits on the 400D. It's also quite cheap.

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sorry i forgot the last part. IF its a well lit room, chances are that the room won`t be big enough for you to use the 70-300, however take it just in case.

With the 18-55 remember that full frame shots have some distortion in proportions. Its best to take shoulders and head with 50mm. See if you can get someone to help you with lights (have some board to bounce em, or hold a reflector).

Hope that helps!

Its indoors and i just assuming daylight ,i was givin short notice about the job and i need the quick cash,eny recommendations about settings?

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How does it change many dyslexics to take a light-bulb?

thanks

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How does it change many dyslexics to take a light-bulb?

85mm used to be the kind of portrait standard with 35mm, but now with cropped sensors, an 85mm lens behaves more like a 135mm, which is pretty long. 50mms are now equivalent to 80mm on Canons, which is pretty close to what used to be the "standard." This is a good thing - the 50mm f/1.8 lenses are much, much cheaper than the 85mm f/1.8s.

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Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer
- Stewie Griffin

I second the finding a 50mm f/1.8. They're about £60, and will give you a nice wide aperture to let lots of light in, and blur the background. You'll find them invaluable if you do more shoots like this in the future.

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Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer
- Stewie Griffin