Advice, Assignment, Gear

Vergara family portrait part 2

A slightly different frame of Resty's family.
A slightly different frame of Resty’s family. I brought along 2 little stools (without backs) for Resty’s wife and mother-in-law. I knew I didn’t want them all to be standing because the differences in height would make it awkward. This arrangement allowed for all their faces to be closer together.

The number of people in a group you are photographing matters a lot because the larger the group, the more likely someone will either be lost or  late.

Besides that, coordinating the wardrobe or clothing will be more difficult as well.

Why Numbers Matter

Though capable of being fired without the line-of-sight limitations, I used 2 of these Canon 600-EX-RT Speedlites with Cybersync radio slaves because I needed them work in tandem with my White Lightning x-800 studio strobe.
Mixing and matching—I used 2 of these Canon 600-EX-RT Speedlites  (fitted with CTO gels) and 1 WL studio strobe/flash. 1 Speedlite served as a backlight and the other as a  fill light. I used the Cybersync radio slaves to get the 2 Speedlites  to work in tandem with my White Lightning x-800 studio strobe which was my Main Light. The main light was manually set to give me  f8. The Speedlite filling as set to give me f4.5 and the backlight was set to give me f11.

You might be tempted to just line them up in a single row ala firing squad.

It’s ok to start there.

Your role is to take charge.

You decide who goes where in the viewfinder.

Generally speaking, you always want to compose so that faces are as big as possible in your viewfinder.

When numbers start getting large in the group, that means the individuals all need to get closer to one another.

Thankfully for me, this is a family so they aren’t uncomfortable about invading each other’s personal space.

Good luck if you’re photographing  a bunch of CEO or board members.

If you’ve ever tried to arrange 6 identically sized books or objects in your rectangular canvas, you will quickly see how little variations in arrangement you can get.

Steffen Urban helps by standing next to X800 White Lightning strobe gelled with 1/4 CTO gel inside Softlighter light modifier. Steffen’s wife Carmen stands between the 2 600 EX-RT Speedlites set on 1/8 power fitted with Cybersync receivers. All 3 flash units were fired by Cybersync radio slaves.

Luckily for me, I had a mix of 3 adults and 3 children of varying sizes.

I also brought along 2 folding stools without backs.

That was a calculated move on my part because I expected little ones.

I knew I could have an adult seated with  a chid on their lap — a device to bring their faces closer with minimal effort.

Attention Span

A sense of collaboration--Allowing your client to look over your images while you make adjustments to your lighting is a good way to keep them involved. Only do so if you are confident in your skill though. If you aren't getting anything good, this can backfire. lol
A sense of collaboration–Allowing your client to look over your images while you make adjustments to your lighting is a good way to keep them involved. Only do so if you are confident in your skill though. If you aren’t getting anything good, this can backfire. lol

Generally speaking, your success will depend  on how well you can keep the attention of the person with the shortest attention span.

In most cases, this means the youngest person will determine how much time you  will have to create your magic.

So it’s usually a good idea to have the adults settled in to their spots, get your lighting squared away before you introduce the little ones.

It’s helpful to ask the age of the oldest person in the group..

If that oldest person has difficulty standing or getting around or is in a wheelchair, you will want to know this ahead of time because your choice of locations will be limited to wheel-chair accessibility.

It’s all about planning ahead.

Space

It’s pretty obvious that large groups occupy more space but don’t forget about you and your lights.

Of the pictures taken at this spot. I like this one the best. They all appear very relaxed. Canon 5DMark2 105mm lens ISO 100 1/200sec @ f8
Of the pictures taken at this spot. I like this one the best. They all appear very relaxed. Canon 5DMark2 105mm lens ISO 100 1/200sec @ f8. I was laying on the ground on my belly when I shot this because I needed to minimize camera shake.

 

Epic failure--A shot without the strobes going off is useful so you can see what the scene looked like 1/200 sec @ f8 ISO 100.
Epic failure–A shot without the strobes going off is useful so you can see what the scene looked like 1/200 sec @ f8 ISO 100.

 

Full concentration-- I don't mind getting dirty as you can see. Thanks Marvin for sharing these behind-the-scene pictures.
Full concentration– I don’t mind getting dirty as you can see. Thanks Marvin for sharing these behind-the-scene pictures.

The bigger the group, the more depth-of-field you will need and that translates into you needing to use supplemental lighting.

Relying solely on available light is ok.

The price of that approach is this: everyone will be squinting and sweating in the bright sunshine.

Supplemental lighting requires:

  • additional room  around your group for light placement
  • a power source that is usually portable–batteries

Usually a minimum of 6 feet of space on the left and right of your group and possibly behind them if you need to add separation to make a person stand out against a dark background.

Read Part 1

Next: Equipment considerations
Peter Phun Photography

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