Question on family group portrait

nburwell

This Easter my mom would like me to photograph the entire family with a group shot. There will be about eight, maybe nine of us included in the photograph. Most likely I'm going to use my 17-85mm lens for the photograph. My main concern comes in the form of lighting. My question is, do you think the pop-up flash on my 20D will be sufficient enough for the photograph, or should I purchase the 430ex or 580ex flash? I have been thinking about purchasing one of the two flashes for awhile now. I'm just looking for advise from those of you who have taken family group portraits before. Any other suggestions that you may have, I would greatly appreciate them. Since Easter is about a month away, I have some time to take in the information, and experimentation, if I get one of the two top-mount flashes I mentioned. Thanks!

cambler

Have you considered shooting outdoors and using available light for a much more pleasing photo? Find a nice garden, put the group together, and use a wide aperture to get some nice depth going.

(NB: This is my own personal artistic preference - your mileage should vary!)

DavidTO

No, the pop-up will not yield pleasing results.

Get the flash, and get Gary Fong's lightsphere to go with it.

This one is far from perfect, but the on-board flash would not have produced a picture nearly as nice:

nburwell

Cambler, shooting outside is not out of the question. However, it all depends on how the weather is on Easter. If it's raining, then I obviously can't take the family out there and shoot. Also, the house of which Easter dinner has not been decided yet. I haven't thought of having the group go outside for a photo, so thank you for that suggestion!

David, thanks for your recommendation on NOT using the pop-up flash for the group shot. Your group family portrait came out rather well from me looking at it. What flash did you use for that particular picture?

Nikolai

Flash For Family
Just like my esteemed co-grinners, I don't think the on-board flash would make the cut. On-board flashes could only be useful on the distances upto 10 ft and even at that they provide pretty distinct (and rather ugly to my taste) "cheap flash effect": harsh shadows, red eyes, flat faces, steep light fall-off, etc.

I would definitely recommend to get (or rent, maybe) an external one. It can be one of the Speedlights you've mentioned (430 or 580), or something else (Sigma, Sunpak, etc.). If you can people outside - by all means do it (and simply use a fill-in flash to create nice catch-lights), but an external flash would guarantee a nice picture even if you're shooting in the pitch-dark basement:-) And if you are shooting inside - try to use the reflection. From the ceiling, from the white wall behind you, etc.

HTH

ShannonW

Hey, I would use an external flash whether you are outside or not. It would help with shadows outside and put catch light in their eyes. I would also recommend the 430. It's not necessary to get a more expensive flash for this. You can always upgrade later and use it as a bcak up. I use my 430ex as back up for my wedding photography business.

Good Luck!

mr peas

try shooting outside
you can get away with using a small pocket-sized slave flash that can be optically triggered (by another flash), theyre fairly cheap < $20. having a flash for your hot-shoe helps in the long run though. if you can afford to make room in your pocket, you should definitely invest in a new flash (or try ebay for some older models and save a few bucks). you stated you needed to shoot for a group of 9 or 10 correct? if you shoot indoors, just turn on a lot of your lamps and what not and I'm sure you can still use your normal flash to fill in shadows that may appear, it all depends on where and how you want to shot to come out.

also, you can try shooting outdoors. usually you wont need flash with so much light available outside. plus if you did need a little bit of flash, your stock flash on the camera should suffice out there.

i hope you find what you need and get a great photo of your family. good luck!

nburwell

Wow, I didn't think I'd get this much advice! Thank you all very much for all your insight and suggestions. I'm definitely going to take them all into consideration. Since I don't have much money for lighting (college ownz me), I'm probably going to invest in the 430ex or even 420ex flash for my 20D. Though mr peas, you mentioned small pocket-sized slave flashes that I could probably pick-up for around $20, I might do that too. I have a lot of planning and experimentation to do before Easter. I'm still open to more suggestions and advice if anyone has something that previous posters have not mentioned. Thank you all again!

Jackal

nburwell wrote:

Wow, I didn't think I'd get this much advice! Thank you all very much for all your insight and suggestions. I'm definitely going to take them all into consideration. Since I don't have much money for lighting (college ownz me), I'm probably going to invest in the 430ex or even 420ex flash for my 20D. Though mr peas, you mentioned small pocket-sized slave flashes that I could probably pick-up for around $20, I might do that too. I have a lot of planning and experimentation to do before Easter. I'm still open to more suggestions and advice if anyone has something that previous posters have not mentioned. Thank you all again!

If tight with money I recommend the Sigma EF-500 DG Super. I have it and it works very well. I also now have the Canon 580X, love it but still use the Sigma when I need more light. Good luck![FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

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