 Andrea Carruth |
Umbrellas w/ big group shots... I have Studio max(photogenic) monolights w/ 2 32" umbrellas. I took a wedding photo of a huge group and got shadows on a couple of faces. I have only had the lights for several weeks, but I still am thinking that the umbrellas might be too small. Should I invest in 45" or 60". I also have a small softbox, but didnt use it. When I metered the shot the numbers were all over the place. It was hard to get F8 from side to side. Any info would help...thanks for your time....Andrea
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
How huge is a huge group? Where did you place the lights? How high did you place the lights? How far away did you place the lights? There are a lot of factors to consider. Larger umbrellas would certainly help. Here is how I would place the umbrellas. Place them at about 45 degree angles to the group on either side and aim them towards the middle or so they cross (I use translucent umbrellas so I don't have as much fall off to worry about). Experiment with the precise aiming when you meter. I set the lights fairly high and aim them downward much the same as I do the camera. This allows the light (and focus in the case of the camera) to fall across the faces evenly. Which means that the group should be posed in layers and not a straight line.
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Andrea Carruth |
The group was about 20 people. I had the main at 45 to the right of them, about 6' away. The fill was slightly to the left(still more toward the middle) and about 11'-12' away. They were both about 6-7' high. Thanks so much for your help...like I said, I'm new to using the lights and all I've read has been on portrait photos. Do you think 45" umbrellas would work, or is it worth the extra to get 60". I also am not sure I understand why you use translucent. Do you bounce, or shoot thru them? Arent they harder to control? Thanks again..Andrea
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
For groups I don't worry about main and fill. There's just too many faces for this. What you end of doing is lighting the whole and not the individuals. If you use a main/fill setup only half of the group will be in main light while the rest is just filled. I like translucent because it gives me another option. Shooting through softens the light but gives you another half stop or so of power. You just have to be careful about light bouncing back into your lens if you shoot through. As far as control, the main concern in shooting a group is even lighting so the direction of light is not quite as important. You can get umbrellas with removeable black covers for those times (most of the time) when you are just bouncing the light.
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