New territory for me! Would love your input :-)

Greyhound Rick

<TABLE class=tborder id=post2240228 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_2240228 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff 1px solid">Hello everyone,

Well.....times are a changin' for me with my photography. Im stepping into the world of portraits and realizing how little I know about this, so.....here I am asking people who know (you!) for some direction

Ive been lucky enough to have had quite a few people and groups approach me about taking portraits and talk about being out of my comfort zone....oh boy! My first "task" is low pressure, thank goodness, because Im doing it for free and its all family, BUT, Id really like to give myself at least a decent chance to do ok with this. Heres my situation:

I need to take individual portraits and group portraits (about 7 in the group) for Christmas presents and then later some individual portraits for my family, a hair salon and some friends. Ive watched a major portion of the Creative Lighting DVD and feel I can at least set up properly for individual portraits and give it a good 'ol college try, HOWEVER....Im worried about the group shots!

Heres what I have to work with:

3 SB-800s (2 light stands)
One umbrella with stand
52" studio grey paper backdrop with stand
reflector kit with stand

I was thinking that for the individual portraits that I would try to mimic the Creative Lighting set up per Bob Krist. The group portraits are the ones where Im a little confused. Im going to do the initial shoot in our living room and space is definitely not studio like!

Can you tell me how you would differentiate between the individual portrait set up vs. the 7 person group shot? Im thinking the following:

1. Shoot thru umbrella, higher and more power, place at 45degree angle, from one side camera left.

2. Since backdrop is not wide enough for 7 people do you think that using a combination of the backdrop and our Christmas tree would work or would you go a different route? Just not sure how that would look??

3. Backdrop could be lit up with SB-800 and green or red gel which might look good with the tree.

4. Hair or rim light could be used for people on opposite side of the umbrella but not sure if that would work without experimenting a little bit. Might be better off not snooting it and just using as additional fill camera right?

5. Reflector would be available if 3rd SB-800 is used as a rim light.

Anyways, just rambling a bit and looking for some input. I think Ive got the right pieces, but am lacking, obviously in experience. Oh well, gotta start someplace huh? I remember my first time shooting the greyhound races and it wasnt pretty

Thanks so much for your help and any input you have will be well received by me and much appreciated.

My best,

Rick
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glennp

Depending on how you want to shoot the group , you can take your backdrop roll and turn it sideways, giving you a larger area to work with.

You didn't mention how big your umbrella was but I would think for a group setting you'd really like to have (2) 42" size umbrellas to evenly balance the strobes from side to side and use the 3rd strobe maybe bounced from behind. I haven't shot groups that large but just thinking what I might try and see how it looks.

Just my 2 cents.

glenn

Greyhound Rick

glennp wrote:

Depending on how you want to shoot the group , you can take your backdrop roll and turn it sideways, giving you a larger area to work with.

You didn't mention how big your umbrella was but I would think for a group setting you'd really like to have (2) 42" size umbrellas to evenly balance the strobes from side to side and use the 3rd strobe maybe bounced from behind. I haven't shot groups that large but just thinking what I might try and see how it looks.

Just my 2 cents.

glenn

Thank you Glenn for the input. I only have one umbrella so Im just going to go with it at first but I do have a reflector with stand that might help and I do have enough strobes I think to fill in well.

I'll keep you posted on how I do and again, I really appreciate your time!

thanks,

Rick