I'm shooting a family this weekend and we are doing some of the shots at the house and some outside. I am struggling with how to light them in the house. My first thought would be to use natural window light where possible, but I know that's not always possible, so I would like to use flash as well. Ihave two possibilities -- I could use a shoot through umbrella to give more even lighting or I could foof the flash. Any hints/suggestions/ideas? I have a white shoot-through or reflective umbrella and a silver reflective umbrella, 1 Vivitar 285, 1 Canon 550 EX and 1 Canon 580EXII. Also, one reflector and one husband willing to hold reflectors and flashes in place. Thanks!

Hi,

You should also mention your method of triggering all those flashes.

It can make a difference.

My Simple Suggestion: "Keep it simple."

Keep your indoor group lighting simple. The most important goal is to see the face clearly and to do that you need light in BOTH eye sockets and no distracting nose shadows. With groups it is difficult to get everyone's face oriented to a key light the same way if it placed off to one side. It is also physically impossible to get even lighting across the group. Putting lights on opposite sides is a horrible strategy for portraits because it creates muddled, splotchy cross-shadow lighting because fill fights and cancels the key light modeling.

The most effective strategy for shooting groups with flash is to keep the light centered over /under the lens of the camera. It keeps the lighting even over the entire group and puts flattering butterfly style downward modeling on the faces and more importantly gets light in all the eyes and prevents dark unflattering shadows.

Often all that is needed is a single flash bounced into a white umbrella. The Christmas season is upon us which means "Photo with Santa" operations are appearing at the shopping malls. Next time you are at a Mall note the simple but effective lighting strategy used: usually a singe WL1600 with a small or med. Photoflex SB turned sideways, raised about 3-4 ft above the camera. More often than not the camera is attached to the light stand with a super clamp. While certainly not the epitome of creative lighting it is nevertheless quite effective for group shots where faces are pointing different directions.

What is also quite effective with groups is getting the camera and light above the heads of the subjects. Stand on a stool or ladder to take the shot, having the people in the group look up at the camera. It tightens up the loose necks, puts heads more over the bodies, and rotates the background down and around the group allowing for a tighter crop with larger heads. But because the camera tilt down matches the face tilt up the facial perspective is the same as eye level.

You can find other tips for photographing groups in this PDF tutorial of mine: LINK

Chuck

Deb, I do a handful of family gigs throughout the year. In Michigan, about six months of the year usually only offer fun outdoor shooting conditions. The other six are for the brave. (4 pics)
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We had about 15 minutes outside before it stormed. And here I had to chose between pretzels and tears. Pretzels won out. (I like to let the kids make the rules). Just a 550Ex into the ceiling.

Second Simple Suggestion: Practice in your own home first. Eliminate ANY unneeded equipment. You should be able to walk-in with an effective "light rig" that does not need any testing.

And...keep it safe too.

Little kids like to climb and run and if you use lots of stuff on light stands and cords, you will be creating new and unfamiliar "hazards."

I'll be using cheap radio triggers for the off-camera flash. I'd love to go all natural, but I wasn't happy with some of my shots last time I tried that -- I felt like the light was too muddy. I'm thinking I will shoot mostly natural with some shots using a 580 shot into a reflective umbrella above the camera. Thankfully no kids running around (everyone's over 14)! I'd like to get a lot of candid shots, so I won't be using the flash the whole time. But I would like ot get a few really nice well-lit shots. I'm practicing at home as well! THanks!