Tips on lighting a family of 5?

[Tyger]

So...I'm finally lining up some people to do family portraits and this Sunday will be my first "official" shoot. I was wondering if anyone has any tips?

Here's what I will have...

2 Alienbee 160w strobes (400effective)
1 48" shoot thru umbrella (which has a black cover to use as a regular umbrella)
1 48" silver/white umbrella
1 580EX II (background or hair light?)
1 sheer muslin bg sorta brownish pattern.
I don't have any reflectors but I have some white foam board.

From what I've read I've seen set-ups with both umbrellas on each side on a 45 degree angle, using a 3rd strobe/flash as a hair light or bg light. Besides trial and error, anything else I need to consider?

[breathless]

...From what I've read I've seen set-ups with both umbrellas on each side on a 45 degree angle, using a 3rd strobe/flash as a hair light or bg light. Besides trial and error, anything else I need to consider?

You can easily get a nice image using the above setup. One of the reasons to stay away from the 45/45 set up is the lack of direction in the light. The above setup will provide a fairly flat, but nicely exposed, clean exposure.

Masters in the traditional portrait studio will use a large light source(feathered) as the key, and another large light source as fill from behind camera. Feathering the key will provide a more even exposure(~1/3 of a stop difference or less) from the sitter closest to the key, to the sitter farthest from the key, while providing a pleasant lighting pattern. Of course, a dark studio will be an ultimate location to achieve such an exposure.

A hair light on all 5 subjects will require a fairly wide light source(usually a strip softbox.) If you find that you cannot achieve a nice hair light with what you have, consider using the third light as a background light or an accent light(edge, kicker) to provide more depth/shape/separation in the image.

[Tyger]

You can easily get a nice image using the above setup. One of the reasons to stay away from the 45/45 set up is the lack of direction in the light. The above setup will provide a fairly flat, but nicely exposed, clean exposure.

Masters in the traditional portrait studio will use a large light source(feathered) as the key, and another large light source as fill from behind camera. Feathering the key will provide a more even exposure(~1/3 of a stop difference or less) from the sitter closest to the key, to the sitter farthest from the key, while providing a pleasant lighting pattern. Of course, a dark studio will be an ultimate location to achieve such an exposure.

A hair light on all 5 subjects will require a fairly wide light source(usually a strip softbox.) If you find that you cannot achieve a nice hair light with what you have, consider using the third light as a background light or an accent light(edge, kicker) to provide more depth/shape/separation in the image.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I will take it to heart this weekend!