canceling eachother out?

[Lelasmama05]

So I recently got two new softbox strobes. I already have two umbrella lights, and I always have the east facing window open when I'm doing shoots with white background. Well before I was having troubles with keeping everyones eyes in focus when I was doing a group picture. I tried using the av priority but that didn't work very well so I tried just going all manual and putting the aperature at about 8-10f but then it doesn't let enough light in and seems to under develope the pics. How can I find a good middle? and what do you guys keep your aperature at when doing a family pic with 2 or more people?

[TheGreatOg]

Unless it's morning, I'm thinking an east facing window is minimal in it's efficiency. Remember the rate of light drop off is the reverse of the square root of something or another. Meaning, it drops off really fast. ;) The good news with your strobes is that they are POWERFUL. I never get less than an f/8 with my stobes. Remember, when you're in manual mode, you control ALL variables for exposure. Namely, Aperture - Shutter Speed - ISO. I picture it like a triangle when I'm working exposure. You can crank up your aperture to get all eyes in focus and lower your shutter speed, or increase your ISO. However you do, there will be a correct exposure. Just my own rule of thumb. Unless I'm really ambitious, any shutter speed less then 1/60 and I put the camera on a tripod. And I always try to shoot my portraits at an ISO of 100 or 200. But here's the good news. The easy part? With strobes, shutter speed doesn't count anymore. Throw the shutter speed at 125, work your aperture to where you need it (DOF preview button is your friend) and adjust the ISO until you have an acceptable exposure(or decrease/increase the power output on your strobes). And remember - it's better to under-expose than over-expose. Once highlights are blown, they're gone.

[egordon99]

What ISO are you using when you go to f/8-11? If you're at ISO100, bumping up to ISO400 should give you more than enough light.

[Lelasmama05]

I had to crank my ISO up to 1600 just trying yo get any light and my shutter speed down to about 50 :rolleyes: I don't use an east facing window in the morning b/c I don't want direct light... I want soft light so it does help more than I guess you would think. I use to only use that window when I had now lighting and didn't come out with too bad of pictures. I just don't get why it's not getting any light.

[egordon99]

f/11 is a fairly small aperture so if you're inside you'll probably have to add your own lighting. If the rooms you're in aren't too big, you should be able to bounce a speedlight (either on a ceiling or a wall) and get decent results. Do you have any additional lighting?

I had to crank my ISO up to 1600 just trying yo get any light and my shutter speed down to about 50 :rolleyes: I don't use an east facing window in the morning b/c I don't want direct light... I want soft light so it does help more than I guess you would think. I use to only use that window when I had now lighting and didn't come out with too bad of pictures. I just don't get why it's not getting any light.

[Lelasmama05]

I have a 450ex speedlight that I don't bounce but I use a defuser, I have two umbrella lights and two strobe lights.

[egordon99]

You have alot more light than me so I'm not sure why you'd be having to go to ISO1600 @ f/11.

I usually shoot around f/2 but tonight I'll go nuts and stop down to f/11 and see how my (bounced) 580EXII handles in my family room.

[egordon99]

OK, bouncing my speedlight off of my regular height light-colored ceiling (in a "normal" sized living room), I needed ISO800 to get a full powered (1/1) flash burst to light up the room at f/11 (using my 17-85 @ ~17mm). Not sure what an umbrella light is, but I'm guessing a speedlight AND two strobe lights should give you enough power to stay at ISO400 (or even less)

Like I said, I usually shoot in the f/1.4-2 range with my two primes, so I can stay safely at ISO100 when I use my speedlight.

[bsaber]

Can you describe your lighting setup a little more? When working in studio, I usually stay at ISO 100-200 at f/8. And that's with a 430ex and/or 580ex through umbrella or softbox.

[Lelasmama05]

Ok... I can take a picture of the set up.

[bsaber]

Also what power settings do you have the flash/strobes?