Outdoor family portrait - Help deciding on lighting

I'm having trouble deciding on the best lighting because I'm still relatively new when it comes to mixing strobes with ambient in an outdoor setting. This will be a family portrait of five people and their dog. They have chosen a location with a gazebo, and they will be sitting or standing on the steps of the gazebo. Time of day will be late afternoon, when the subjects will be in the shadows. They were nice enough to send me pictures of the gazebo from that time of day, including EXIF data, so that I could see that under similar conditions, f5.6 and 1/125 at ISO 100 will properly expose the ambient. I might meter my main light at f8.0 and shoot at f8 to underexpose the ambient and have more DOF for the group. What I'm wondering is if the 39" DO with one diffuser will be an adequate light source for a group this size, or if I should get/borrow something larger like the 53" octa. I don't really want to drag out the 74" octabank for this, although I guess I could. I don't have a decent boom for location work and plan to set up the main light to one side. So I'm wondering if I should plan to use a fill light or if ambient will be enough to take care of harsh shadows. I won't have an assistant, and I don't think a reflector would work for fill in this case because I couldn't really get it in close enough without being in the frame. Thanks for any advice! I'm guessing wedding photographers deal with exactly this situation all the time.

the 39 is not really a group portrait modifier. Borrow/rent the 53 and you'll be much happier. The 39 would have to be pulled back quite a distance to get adequate coverage, and then you lose the qualities of the DO anyway.

How high is the roof of the gazebo?

I know it is a group shot but I wouldn't shoot it at f8. I like the bg to be blurred so even with multiple people shoot wider and longer focal length to help with that. It also depends on what is in the bg and how far from the subject.

bobbyz wrote in post #12402024
I know it is a group shot but I wouldn't shoot it at f8. I like the bg to be blurred so even with multiple people shoot wider and longer focal length to help with that. It also depends on what is in the bg and how far from the subject.

Hmm, I'd be very careful when shooting groups. Depending on focal length and distance form lens to subject you can really make a mess if you're not careful.

As much as I love to blur backgrounds, the subject(s) are the most important part of the image and I'll always gladly sacrifice blurred backgrounds for a sharp subject area, front to back and left to right. Don't forget that depth of field van bit you in the butt from lateral distance as well.

I haven't seen the gazebo in person. I've only seen pictures. It's difficult to judge the height, but it looks quite large, like something you might see used for weddings. The father in this family is quite tall, but it looks like he'd still have plenty of headroom when standing. I might try sitting and standing poses.

I'm a little nervous about using an aperture larger than f8 because I know they're planning to blow this up into a large print. I want to make sure all the faces are in focus. I can use the FocalPoint Photoshop plugin to create some background blur in post if that helps the overall image.

That's what I was also thinking about the 39" DO and that a larger light source would work better. What do folks thing about adding a fill light in this situation, or will the one light be sufficient if positioned correctly?

Yeah, I'd be shooting closer to f/11 or so to really nail a sharp image.

If you have the height, using a single light with the 74" octa is how I would do it. You can pull it off with the 53" but I wouldn't even bother. Once I'm shooting groups or more than 3 I think the 53" is too small.

If you're limited in height then using two softboxes in horizontal orientation, placed next to each other will work well.

I'm just not a fan of shooting groups with a light on the left side and one symmetrically on the right. I don't find the light or consistency of catch light to be to my liking.

I missed that you have the 74". i'd go with Rob's suggestion of using the 74 if at all possible.

Oh, about using a fill...

I would just lower the main light a bit so that just the top of your head is in front of a corner or side and let the one light act as main and fill. Keep it simple and you'll get beautiful results.

I won't light groups with multiple lights unless I have to.

Well, I don't currently own the 53", and it's backordered and out-of-stock everywhere anyway. Based on your concerns about the height of the gazebo, I'm not sure I understand how you're thinking of positioning the 74" octa. I'm also wondering if the 600RX can fill it with enough light to get me f11.

I got interrupted while writing the last reply and hadn't seen the prior two posts. So I get it about the setup of the 74" octa. I guess that makes the most sense. Now if the 600RX will be enough...

that 600rx is plenty!

sdipirro wrote in post #12402966
Well, I don't currently own the 53", and it's backordered and out-of-stock everywhere anyway. Based on your concerns about the height of the gazebo, I'm not sure I understand how you're thinking of positioning the 74" octa. I'm also wondering if the 600RX can fill it with enough light to get me f11.

If you hadn't mentioned the fill I would still say just get it up in the air and let it be a nice soft, large diffused light source that will have gradual falloff from top to bottom and front to back, giving you a large subject area with very even exposure.

If you saw my recent band shot I posted, I used a single 69" Octa and got great results with a 600RX, shooting anywhere from f/9 to f/16 and I still had some headroom. I didn't have to tweak the exposure for any left to right or front to back variation.

I feel that introducing a secondary light source isn't necessary and my solution would be to just drop the height of the main light a bit. It's a bit light source so you're not going to see drastic changes from that small adjustment. That should give you a nice balance of directional light that is coming from above and a fill that is a little closer to camera position.

Either way works but I do believe that using the 74" octa is the way to go unless there just isn't the room for it.

I'd suggest you go to the site a few days before the shoot and try your planned setup. or at least have plan B with you.

hawk911 wrote in post #12403013
I'd suggest you go to the site a few days before the shoot and try your planned setup. or at least have plan B with you.

bring a tape measure.