Group Photo

H

haunteddoc

Member
So, I have been taking pics of my sons marching band and indoor percussion group for the last 5 years. ; Tonight, for the first time, the director ask me to take a group photo of the indoor percussion group. ; (They missed their chance with the pro photographer at each contest!!) Of course I said yes, being all excited and stuff that they would actually ask me. ; Then it hit me (bang!!), I have never done anything like this before.

I need help!! ; Photography not mental! How do I light a group of around 15-20 kids? (number depends on when grades come out. ; Lost around 3 for poor grades and one for throwing Bagels at the customers in the Wal Mart when we stopped to eat on the way home! ; Actually had some good arc as he threw them over several aisles!) (thank God it is not the marching band which has around 100 kids)? ;

I have two speed lights, wireless trigger, and one shoot through umbrella on a 7 ft stand. ; Probably need to buy at lease one more umbrella and stand???? ; Background will probably be a beige block wall.

Still excited about the opportunity but want to make sure I do a good job. ; Who knows, if things go well, when Obama Care starts I can retire from medicine, I may have found a source of retirement income?!?!? (sorry for the politics)

Any suggestions would be great. ; Really!!

After thought. ; Is this an opportunity to tell my wife I need all new lighting equipment? ; On second thought probably not since she just got me the canon 70-200 f2.8L IS USM for my Birthday, Valentines Day, Fathers Day... you get the picture.
 
Oh my. ; No responses. ; Has anyone done something like this? ; Any wedding photographers out there? ; I am sure you would have taken group shots. ; Help!!!
 
Since it looks like you'll be looking at a new career; I'm thinking that two speedlights won't be enough...you'll probably actually need full size strobes...two more than likely. ; Two bounce umbrellas maybe.
 
My vote is for a large soft box directly behind you as you shoot straight on as a good starting point. You may then consider adding 2 soft boxes at your sides in a symmetric pattern. ; Basically, keep it simple for large groups like the one you have described. No need to go fancy IMHO.

Unfortunately, not knowing the location makes recommendations a little harder. Adding more light may also cause issue with colors and shadows, especially if there are colored wood surfaces and or large amounts of natural lighting.
 
Thanks for all the great advice!! ; The shoot will probably be in the band room which has beige block walls. ; I was just joking about the new profession. ; I have a long way to go before I would start asking people for money. Don't want to spend the money right now for upgrading to bigger lighting system. ; So, Lens Rentals here I come.
 
Depending on the size of your umbrella you'd want to use that, directly above the camera. If it's not particularly large and the room you'll be using has white walls you could bounce both your speedlights off the wall behind you, making the whole wall one big reflector.

Generally I use two umbrellas and 600ws monolights for a job like this. I set the two umbrellas as close together as possible with both feathered out from the group center so they act together as if they're one large light source. The tricks are:
Make sure they look like one large light so the closer rows don't form crossed overlapping shadows on the rows behind, and
meter carefully so your light is evenly spread side to side and front to rear.

You want the lights at least as high as the top row aimed down and you want your camera high enough so the distance from the camera to the front row is about equal to the distance to the rear row. This helps ensure even coverage and maximizes your depth of field.
 
Nikon has a DVD that you should all check out called 'A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting' While it obviously focuses on the CLS system, it will give you ideas aplenty! Bob Krist and Joe McNally tag team. (you can find it in all the normal spots)
 
Personally I would KISS and use the stage (which is most likely near the band room) and con the custodian or student lighting guru into turning on some stage lights and allowing you access to the panel (so you can dim them appropriately).
Light overhead? Check. Metered properly? Check. White balance good? Ready to shoot!

Just a suggestion.. this is how I would approach it if I were doing a "freebie". ;

I know stage Fresnel lights can be harsh, but with some quick adjusting they would do the trick.

Heck they may even have 1/2 CTO gels already on them!
 
Hopefully the stage crew is better than my high school's stage crew... at my high school, they would leave the gels in from one performance until they needed to change them out for the next one which always created white balance problems for me whenever I shot my sister's concerts. ; I never could get the entire band to look right even with an expo disk.
 
I'll admit I was a dorky sound/lighting guy for my school while I was a student there and never had a problem changing gels or assisting photographers with lighting.
 
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