How to light this setup?

[jdaly]

Planning a photo shoot for a dance company and want to see if I've got enough light to pull this off. Right now, I've got a Genesis 400 - 2 light kit and a 580exII. Of course, I'll need to get some white seamless and a stand to hold. Just not sure if I have enough light :rolleyes: What do you think?

Here's what I'm hoping to pull off:
http://www.dalyphotography.com/misc/dancevibe/dance_wb.png

[Big Mike]

Off the top of my head, you will probably need/want two lights on the group, leaving only one light for the backdrop...which might make it tricky to get it uniformly white...if that's what you want.

If there is a nice white ceiling, try bouncing the background light off the ceiling and down onto the backdrop...might also give you some hair light.

[FlyingPhotog]

Pretty obvious that the example posted by the OP had the background created in post.
Look close around their feet.

[jdaly]

Also, some of the team shots will have up to 16 dancers! The white seamless paper I've seen is just 9' wide. Not sure that'll be wide enough for such a large group. Saw some that is 140" - too pricey though.

Here's a shot of the studio - Think that ceiling is 'bounceable'?
http://www.dalyphotography.com/misc/dancevibe/1.jpg

[mbellot]

The ceiling looks OK, but you're going to want to cover those mirrors.

The studio where my girls go is painted flat black with mirrors or mirrored windows on three of four walls, zero bounce possibility.

[Gatorboy]

How about shooting each dancer individually, then creating something similar to this?

http://www.davehoffmannphoto.com/imageEngineer/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/jc_wrestling_2008_2009_poster-800x529.jpg

Wresting Team Poster - Chroma Key Cutouts: Part 1 (http://www.theimageengineer.com/2008/06/wrestling-team-poster-part-1-chroma-key-cutouts/)

Wresting Team Poster - Chroma Key Cutouts: Part 2 (http://www.theimageengineer.com/2008/07/wrestling-team-poster-part-2-chroma-key-cutouts/)

[Damian75]

What modifiers do you have to work with if you set them up with the mirror on one side you may be able to use some of your key to help with the background

[jdaly]

Nice wrestling poster, Gatorboy! I've got 15 teams to shoot! ;)

Just have two umbrellas right now. Any thoughts on muslin vs. seamless paper?

[aram535]

Unless you're going to light the backdrop with something it doesn't matter which you use. Just keep them away from the background and make the back go black.

[MrScott]

Paper all the way.

Cut a piece of 9' paper about 12' or 15' long, then you can tape it 8' up the wall horizontally. Tape the same width of paper down to the floor and let the 1' of overlap from the wall cover up your tape job on the floor.

You could easily get a BG 12' or 15' wide and have plenty of paper left on the roll for the floor.

You'll probably need the floor to extend out more than 9' from the wall so you could always lay out another sheet that overlaps the paper that's closest to the wall.

As for the lights... I would recommend possibly renting some additional units, but if there's no money, thats fine. Since there's a drop ceiling, you should have access to some kind of structure above the grid to hang your BG light over the kids and centered on the BG. You may not be able to get an even BG, but at least the exposures will fall off evenly from the center out...

Run your BG light at full power, unmodified and position your other light high and close to your left or right of the shooting position. With an umbrella, you should be able to run the main at 1/2 or possilby 1/1 and have them balance out with a little testing.

Needless to say, you'll be able to pull it off. You'll just have to do a little post work and also make sure that the kids are not ripping up any of the paper. NO horsin' around.

When you get done with this gig - make sure you invest everything in more lights and mods.

[jdaly]

Great idea with the paper. Thanks! Not so sure I'll be hanging any lights from the ceiling above the kids! Knowing my luck, well... you can imagine. ;)