How to light a 20 Person Christmas gathering in a pub?

[GregSteer]

Hey folks, I've been asked by a collegue at work to shoot his family get together on Christmas day, I've said yes as I can fit it in the window of travelling from one family home to another, but I've got a lighting question. It's going to be shot in a pub that his sister owns, so I've got access beforehand to setup lighting ready to simply bolt it in place and shoot on the day. I've not shot a group of people before so I'm really unsure as to what to try, I've got two stands/brollies at my disposal with my 580ex mkII and I could proably borrow anotehr 550/580 from one of the local photogs I know. How would I light the group? 580 at 45deg behind me to the left/right? another as fill? just use 1? Help/Advise needed! I can get location shots this weekend I think.

[form]

Group formals/informals are usually going to want a light that is roughly of equal distance from all the subjects to get the most even lighting. That's the main reason why I usually put the light high in center and shoot directly next to it. If there's a white ceiling or back wall those are also options for bouncing. In the unlikely event that you have both a ladder and a white ceiling to use for the job, you can get up on the ladder, have everyone look up at you and bounce 1-2 flashes off the ceiling.

[tim]

If it's a white ceiling just bounce your flash off it. If you have more than one speedlite available use master slave, you might even consider one light behind them shooting at the ceiling pointing slightly towards the group so the background isn't dark. You'll want to be up highish so you don't get the ceiling in the shot.

Keep it simple. If you use master/slave practice in advance.

[form]

Dark backgrounds are common and hard to avoid. I've experimented a little with brightening the background and will make more serious attempts in the future - probably with angled (or bounced) flash behind the subjects.

I did one wedding outdoors at night where I actually shot one flash straight up at the gazebo ceiling to illuminate the background and another in front to expose the couple cutting the cake, who were towards the nearer edge of the gazebo and only received a little back lighting from the flash behind. It worked in some ways, like giving the photos a brighter background, but it wasn't perfect (blew out the ceiling where it struck):

http://xs233.xs.to/xs233/08484/img_0316-3_potn963.jpg
By the way, the people behind are one of the reasons why I want full frame so I can have a narrower DoF.

[GregSteer]

Thanks for the tips - I'll be scouting it this weekend hopefully, if not then the weekend after - I'll post a location shot.

[SuzyView]

I agree with Tim on the master-slave set up. I use the stand with strobe and shoot through umbrella about 6 feet high. I'm usually putting the group far enough away from the wall to avoid shadows behind. Work with the available ceiling light. That will help more than you know. If you can, have a few on high stools, maybe the seniors of the group and have people stand around and behind them. The key is, there will always be people who do not like what they look at EVER, so you want to put those people in the back or really pose them to flatter whatever their insecurities are. For instance, I did a family shoot with grandparents, parents and cute little grandchildren, putting the grandparents in the front middle and kids around. That was a mistake. They didn't like any of the images because they wanted to see the grandkids more than themselves. Talk all those issues over first before any shoot.

If you need other advice, just ask. And Good Luck!

[tim]

I agree with Tim...

All the cool kids do :p :cool:

[SuzyView]

Thanks for calling me a kid. :)