My son is having his high school prom next Saturday and his firiends are coming to our house for pre-prom pictures. Probably about 20 kids and pictures will be outside.

I have Mark 2 and 580 flash with 70-200 2.8 and 24-70 2.8 lens.

Questions:

For outside pictures, approximately 5:30 pm in Texas, should I have the group in the shade or the sun? If in the sun, do I have sun at their backs or at my back?

What f/stop for the group? Is 5.6 OK?

Do I use flash? If so, what settings do you recommend.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks!

Chris

Depends how harsh the sun is. There's no real hard rule to it and in the sun can look good if done right, but the shade will generally work better for several reasons. The two most obvious are the very harsh shadows created by the sun when it is still fairly high in the sky and the squinting that will result on the faces from trying to look straight ahead while in the sun. Another is that, while using the sun as your key light, the 580EX will have to work even harder to light up the shadowed areas making for longer recycle times.

Should you choose to do it in the shade, you can use some of the techniques from this link to help you light it. The sun will likely be your key light rather than fill. http://super.nova.org/DPR/CluelessToCompetent/

My lens of choice for this is my 70-200 because it is far, far easier to isolate the subjects from the background with the depth of field blurring than it is with a shorter lens. The largest aperture you can use will depend a lot on both the focal length and the composition of the shot though.

Go out this Saturday at 5:30 and take some test shots to find a good location and sun angle (try to avoid direct sun into the face, no one looks good with squinted eyes). Expose for the sky and use fill flash and/or a reflector to fill in the shadows. A light meter always comes in handy to get a good light reading.

Wide open is preferable to isolate your subjects, but for the group shot, you'll probably have to close down to at least f/5.6 to keep everyone sharp depending on your composition. Bracket your exposures, then compare your test shots to see which ones you like the best. Take notes, make a game plan, and be flexible in case its cloudy or overcast.

When the big day comes, pay attention to the white shirts and the specular highlights and try not to blow them out.

Hope this helps!

The best approach if you can't find a large enough area of open shade is to put the sun to the back of the group and fill with flash. With a single flash you'll need to use direct flash, but with all the light bouncing off the sky that should work OK. There a many advantages to shooting from a raised point of view. Faces wind up closer to the same distance to both the lens and flash for less near/far size distortion of heads and more even lighting. For example, the shot below is a group of volunteers from my church. It was shot in the early evening with the sun, which had just set, to their backs. It was taken standing on a 7ft. step ladder with a 580ex with a diffuser on a flash bracket and another directly above on a 12 ft light stand.

Thanks for all the advice so far. I appreciate the help!

Chris

Chuck,

With the flash directly above you, is that what is referred to as butterfly? I am shooting my daughter along with a prom group of 8 tomorrow evening. I have a 9.5' stand that I can put a 580 with the DIY diffuser on it along with a flash on my bracket also. I have another flash available but not sure I will need it.