Lighting a group shot in full sun.

[timswim78]

So, I have been asked to shoot a family event in May. There will be group shots of family units (2 to 8 people) outside around noon. I know that the time sucks, but I cannot change it.

The people will be standing on the steps of a building (about 12 feet from the building entrance). The sun will be directly overhead, or slightly blocked by the building (the people will be in the shadows). Either way, I am thinking that it will be a good idea to throw some light on them.

As far as equipment goes, I have three off-camera, manual flashes, wireless capabilities, and some stands.

My questions are:
Where do I position the flashes? I am thinking of having two flashes pointed at the group and one flash behind the group (to backlight the people and give some depth), but I do not know where to put the flashes facing the group.

Since it will be full sun, should I shoot bare flashes, through lightboxes, or bounce off of umbrellas? What do I do if it gets cloudy?

 

[angry hampster]

Absolutely shoot bare flash. Unless you'er using high-powered strobes, you won't have enough power to modifiers.

Expose for the flashes as much as you can, and use them at full power. Keep the flashes pointed down at an angle to the crowd. Don't cross your streams.

I shot a wedding in light like this last year. Didn't turn out too bad. Keep an eye on your shadows. Here's one from the shoot.

 

[timswim78]

Good tips angry hampster. Should the flashes be spread apart and point towards the center of the group, or should they be tight to the camera and point towards the ends of the group?

 

[pdo]

Behind the scene shot at noon time. Try to get them in shadows but overpower the sun by 1/2 F stop if you could.

 

[onza]

^ is that senior from OCC? lol

 

[rootaxs]

If you still can't get enough power out of your flashes to compensate for the sunlight, use the sunlight to your advantage.

If you want to go the cheap route, get a couple of large white foamcore boards to help redirect the light back into your subject -- i prefer these to the silver reflectors since the reflected light is quite a bit softer. If you still need more frontal lighting, your flashes should be able to fill-in better and balance out the exposure.

 

[finbarqs]

use the sun as a supplementary light source!

 

[shocksyde]

Highly recommend reflecting sunlight using white foamcore. Overpowering the sun with flashguns is no easy task.