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
Nov 20, 2008 at 11:07 AM
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