What did I do wrong?

du8die

I was asked to shoot a friend's family last Monday. Overall, the shoot went very well, but there are a few nit-picky things that I wish I had done different.

Here's the big family.



Setup: 2 Strobes - One Camera Left, One Camera Right - about 15 feet from group - at about 6 feet off ground.

I'm not crazy about the harsh shadows I got from my strobes. Did I have them too close? How do I avoid that? Should the strobes have been higher, forcing the shadow to go lower?

Also, there is one guy in the back row that I should have moved one space to the left.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

d8

Qarik

were the strobes through umbrellas? If you had to use strobes I don't know if you can really avoid the shadows completely. Having the strobes closer might have helped. different shirt colors might have helped. Using your highest iso you feel comfortable with may have helped.

Ed911

Suggestions.

First...strobe to effect. It looks like you over lit the group. Outdoor strobes need to assist ambient light, not blast the subjects...You are only looking for fill light from your strobes...

Meter for Ambient and then work with adding just a little more than ambient for effect to brighten their faces...shooting on manual...this way you won't have the shadows that you are experiencing...or, at least a minium of shadowing. You may have to experiment with the group, taking several shots before you get the one that you want.

Placing your group...if you put them too far into the shadows, then you run the risk of having to use too much artifical light. If you meter your group in the shade, and then meter the ambient light...out of the shade, and have several f-stops difference, you may want to move your group forward so that you will have more reflected ambient reaching them...which will wrap around your subject in an outdoor shoot like this.

Second, use light modifiers...to soften the effects of your strobes.

Question...studio strobes...or camera flashes? Manual or iTTL or eTTL?

Light modifiers? If so...what were you using? Light meter?


Hope this helps.

zoomer

Looks like you had a nice cloudy day, you could have shot them out in the light, which would have required much less flash for much smaller shadows.
Use one strobe put it in the middle (above where you are standing) and higher, above the group, then what shadows there are go down not on the other peoples faces.
If you have a soft box you can get away with more side light.
Watch your background.

jeffreaux2

Judging by the location of the shadows the lights were too low...and too much power was used.

du8die

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I agree with the conclusion that the lights were too low. As far as too much power, I agree as well. They were both 420ex - so no control over power. I had them about 15 feet away - Is there a way to figure out how far they should have been? Like moving them 5 feet back is equivalent to a 2 stop drop in power output?

thanks
d8