group photo help needed

equipment-one AB800 w/umbrella,20D,sekonic lightmeter,24-70L or 50-1.8,tripod,remote

need advise on shooting group of 12-20 co-workers for gift for the boss.shot will be done indoors at night.plenty of room as far as space w/8ft high ceiling.
please help w/advise on lighting set up as well as positioning evryone.

thanx,paulb

Hi Paul,

I'm a long way from an experienced photographer of people in any form, in fact I just finished a short class on lighting. Take this for what it's worth. A similar question came up in class, but the answer was basically that you need more lights.

I doubt you'll be able to light that group effectively with a single light. Perhaps you can use the single strobe to light the background and just use ambient for the rest. You'll probably have to bump the ISO to get a reasonable exposure time. I can't really think of any way you can use that single light other than to bounce it off the ceiling from near the camera position like a giant on-camera flash. You can get a little bit of an angle, but too much will give you serious light falloff problems. Even that bounce might be a problem.

You're probably going to have problems with mixed color temps too. I don't have any brilliant ideas for posing people. You might just do a little poking around the web to see if you can find a setup that you like. You're signed up for a tough shoot I think. Good luck....

Aaron

Edit: you might want to post this in the Entry Digital Photography forum. It's higher up and seems to get more traffic.

Depends on the room, the group, the desired mood of the photo. For simple results if the room is light-colored I'd through away the umbrella and shoot the monolight into the ceiling or against a wall behind you or both. This can solve the simplest basic problem of "how do I get even light over a group of this size?" and wil give you simple, safe, results. If your ambition for the shot is something very simple then you're done.

If you want to express more personality or technical panache, then think a little deeper. Not enough light? Have them carry torches or candles or mirrors or... there are tons of expressive and novel possibilities. But if you've shooting a bunch of accountants or insurance agents, those may not be the best choices.

Paul Barclay said:

group of 12-20 co-workers for gift for the boss.shot will be done indoors at night.plenty of room as far as space w/8ft high ceiling.

Click to expand...

Hi Paul:- bounce the flash off the ceiling as far back as you can go. Aim the light up at a 60degree angle. Shoot from beside the light.
Take some test shots and adjust the angle of the light accordingly. Start at about 1/2 power, 200 ISO F8 or so. It's not a problem for the equipment. The test shots will show you which way you have to go.
As far as the subjects. Don't just line them up and shoot. Use different poses. have them all sitting cross legged on the floor and shoot at their level. be creative! try different things. involve your co-workers let them suggest some poses.
Have fun and try different things.

Cheers
Chris Purves

Same here, but watch out for the color of the ceiling.
If the ceiling is tinted you will see this back in the photo.

Also watch out for mixed lightsources.
Best is to make the room dark and use only the flash, this way you get the most pure picture.

If you only have the umbrella and alot of power I would use the following.

Set the strobe with umbrella about 2.20 mtrs high right behind you aiming towards the group.
Use ISO400-200 and the strobe on full power.
This way you can use f8 or f11 to get everyone sharp and still have a good exposure.

Greetings,
Frank