Confused about outdoor portrait lighting

[Megapixle]

Tomorrow I am doing a family portrait shoot up in the canyon. I plan on either positioning the family in the shade, or placing the sun behind them, depending on time of day. There are 5 family members--2 adults and 3 kids.

I have 2 580EX II flash units. I always thought that I should place one on camera, and one off at a 45 degree angle. But the other day I was reading that having one flash on a 45 will make for uneven lighting--the person closest to the flash may receive a stop or so more light than the person furthest from the flash. Thus, the article recommended one flash mounted on-camera, and the other maybe below camera, both shooting the group straight on. I'm just not seeing the benefit of shooting with 2 flashes straight on.

So is the cross-lighting technique (with one flash off to the side) only advisable for single-person portraits, so you don't get excessive light fall-off? :confused::confused::confused:

The other option is to put flash #2 behind the subjects for rim lighting.

Any advice?

~mp

[Rumjungle]

For 5 people standing in a row, yes, the person closest to the flash will get more light. But for just 5 people, you don't even need 2 flashes. I'd just put one on the camera, arrange the family so that the sun is to their backs at a angle, and fill flash.

[Megapixle]

For 5 people standing in a row, yes, the person closest to the flash will get more light. But for just 5 people, you don't even need 2 flashes. I'd just put one on the camera, arrange the family so that the sun is to their backs at a angle, and fill flash.


Thanks for your advice. I can try that I guess. I bought the extra flash hoping it would help out in situations like this. If I don't use it here I don't know where I'll ever use it...

~mp

[Rumjungle]

They're good for larger groups (15+). Or, 2 flashes are nice for controlling shadow when doing portraits/headshots.

Or, you can put the group in the shade, backlight with 1 flash and fill with the other.

[BCRose]

If you use a flash on a large group at 45 degrees then you should feather it.

Point the flash at the furthest person away or just a bit to the far side of him, the light hitting the person on the other side should be almost equal this way.

[Megapixle]

If you use a flash on a large group at 45 degrees then you should feather it.

Point the flash at the furthest person away or just a bit to the far side of him, the light hitting the person on the other side should be almost equal this way.



That's clever, never thought of that, thanks.

~mp

[Wilt]

I put this illustration together and posted it on POTN quite a while ago, to illustrate feathering in some thread...

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i63/wiltonw/feathering.jpg

...and although the illustration was specifically for a softbox group shot, it is somewhat applicable to speedlights (though not to the same degree as effective)