group pictures

[pete crawford]

i'm still working on lighting. i still may have the strobes too far back.

iso 400, 1/60th, f6.3, kit lens, 1d mark 111.

umbrellas on either side of the camera, w/ hensel strobes set at 5.5.

background, i'm sure, isn't desirable, but in the gym there wasn't much to work with.

pick me apart. all comments are welcomed.

thanks

[Magic 24]

Horizontals look slightly low to the left - especially on the men. Probably should have removed the trash can in background right. And the flash is distracting on the bleachers in back.

Looking at the photo - I think I would have brought 22 (girls) up to the front row and shifted the back row to the left (their rt) to balance out more evenly. This may have worked with the guys as well. That way the ball is centered amongst the team.

Maybe instead of two straight lines - a somewhat of a semi-circle around the logo would be a little more appealing.

Did you shoot CW or Spot? The girls look slightly dark maybe 1/3 to 2/3 stop and the guys look just a bit hot - maybe 1/3 stop. White jerseys with the dark blue top makes it hard.

I think they are workable but again the TC would bother me the most IMHO.

[pete crawford]

would you beleive that i moved that trash can before we started! obviously i didn't move it far enough, and we didn't check when we chimped.

the boys are off horizonally. i didn't know they lined up crooked when i was chimping, so i straightened it in picasa. i just noticed what you were talking about there too.

the lines are definately uneven. they wanted the 22 (girls) on the back row because she's a senior.

we tried to be more agressive when we lined the boys up. great advice. i need to be more open and pushy.

D%#$%$ TRASH CAN, LOL!

thanks

[Big K]

I don't think there is anything dramatically wrong with them at all. The background is a bit distracting but like you said sometimes you live with what you have.

Did you use two lights or more to shoot this?

If you have four lights, you could try moving the front lights much closer to the subjects, use the back lights for hair highlights and shoot at an exposure level where the background goes to black. Attached is the only example I could quickly find. It needs some fine tuning but hopefully gives you a better idea of what I am saying.

Doing this with two rows of subjects adds some additional challenges but with some work adjusting your light locations you can normally fix shadow problems.

Umbrellas on both front strobes. Grid spots on two strobes firing at their backs from about 45 degree angles.

MkIII 1/250 f/10 ISO100 with a 24-70 f/2.8 lens at 24mm.

[Big K]

D%#$%$ TRASH CAN, LOL!

Photoshop will fix that trash can. :-)

[pete crawford]

thanks all.

i did just use 2 lights.

[dawiyo]

The shots may be a little underexposed but that's easy to fix and I'm sure they'll love them. Not to take away from your thread but Big K, that shot's awesome!

[pete crawford]

it is awesome big k

[Big K]

Thanks Pete and Dave. The girls really liked it as well.

Pete, without some back lighting to gain separation my suggestion won't work for you. If you were to move the lights closer to the girls you might be able to reduce some of the reflection off the bleachers in the background if it bothers you but I think your shots are perfectly acceptable as they are.

You guys have a nice holiday.

[pete crawford]

thanks big k. you're not the first to advise me to move the strobes closer. i'll do it next time for sure. i keep getting under exposed a little.

pete

[Big K]

Those darned white jerseys make it tough on your cameras metering. I think if you overexpose by 1/3 stop from whatever the camera tells you that you will be good to go.

If you are bored, here is an interesting article about sensor variation that I found pretty surprising. It might partially explain why you are seeing exposure variation especially if you notice it consistently.

http://www.sekonic.com/news/reviews.asp

I'm a big fan of light meters but am also a bit anal retentive by nature.

[Mike R]

It looks as if the sponsor signs are on the floor. If they are you should move them for the shot.

[pete crawford]

hey mike...they are screwed to the bleachers. thanks for the advice! i'm learning a little at a time, only because of the great advice from you guy's.

pete

www.pyrophotography.com