Lighting a group beach sunset portrait - or, help me spend my money

Long story short, my first paid portrait shoot is coming up in a couple of weeks. The client wants a beach family portrait. I've already told her the "sweet spot" will likely be no earlier than 7:30 PM. Sunset is at 8:30 so I think that will give us about an hour and a half of useful light.

The family is 7 people (couple + 5 kids). I haven't shot a group of this size before, and am a little apprehensive. I'm going tonight with my wife to scout out locations, do some practice shots, and get a feel for what I can accomplish with JUST the sunlight, and what I need to use some flash fill.

Right now, if I need fill lighting for the group shots, I'm thinking of just splashing my Speedlite off a gold reflector, from near the lens axis.

If I go too far to the left or right of camera, the drop-off may be noticeable from one side of the family to the other. If I'm far enough away to minimize drop-off, then the relative size of my light source becomes small. So do I need two fill light sources? Or maybe not, since a relatively small fill light (2x3 reflector) from near the lens axis won't necessarily look bad anyway - as long as it's gentle fill, and not trying to replace the natural sunset lighting. Thoughts?

On the plus side, I just got a bonus at my cubicle-job, so I have a couple hundred bucks to spend, figured I'd put it in lighting. Here's what I have for portable lighting:
-- 430EXII (wireless control from my 60D, ETTL or manual)
-- 18" beauty dish (DIY)
-- Lastolite Tri-Grip diffuser/reflector (has various colors including gold and silver/gold)
-- Rosco gels (I'm not very good with these, figure I may need them to balance against sunset light)
-- Cheap backup tripod that works as a light stand
-- I have a fluorescent softbox set for studio portraiture and products; it's portable but requires power outlets. So, it won't be used on this shoot.


I'm thinking of fleshing out my strobist gear, specifically for this photoshoot but also just to beef up my arsenal. After reading THIS THREAD and also the series of Strobist 101 blog posts, I'm thinking about the following:
-- Yongnuo 560 (just one for now)
-- Wireless triggers - Yongnuo RF-602 or Cactus V5? The 60D's IR wireless control is nice but not really reliable, so I'm looking to upgrade. Should I get two receivers & one transmitter, or just the duo and let the YN-560 be triggered optically?
-- Stands, umbrella adapters, Super Clamps.
-- I'd like the Tri-Grip bracket but it's $120, so I might just have to cobble something together with Super Clamps.
-- Umbrellas? I'm leaning toward umbrellas for my strobes since I already have softboxes for my fluorescents. What size is appropriate for a speedlite? Reflective or pass-through? I guess the cheap ones are cheap enough that I can get several different ones for different situations.

Anyway, I'm just looking for guidance on what is useful gear, and what's just unnecessary clutter that I'll never use.

Sun on the back or sun lighting up the faces? I would prefer location where sun on the back and then light up the faces with strobes. Personally I wouldn't mind using bare flash but off camera. umbrellas can be pain depending on the wind. I would rent something rather than buy. Here in SF bay area I can rent Elinchrom Quadra kit for $50 for a day. Profoto is bit expensive but savailable for rent most places.

Haven't scouted the locations yet, but since we're on the West coast of the state, it'll likely be with the sun at the back (over the water) and fill flash for faces. Portraits of the individuals, I'm sure I will experiment a bit more with lighting directions, since I've got more individual-portrait experience under my belt and can better predict how to manage my fill light.

At my skill level, I don't know if I would get noticeably better results with top-notch rental gear, compared to just a couple of Speedlites. I'd rather just buy something that's appropriate for my skill level, then when I've outgrown it (and can afford it), sell it to the next novice and move up to the better equipment. And, it's not an expensive shoot, I'm charging $100/hr plus prints, so a $50 rental eats a lot of my profit.

nathancarter wrote in post #12604121
-- Umbrellas? I'm leaning toward umbrellas for my strobes since I already have softboxes for my fluorescents. What size is appropriate for a speedlite? Reflective or pass-through? I guess the cheap ones are cheap enough that I can get several different ones for different situations.

Anyway, I'm just looking for guidance on what is useful gear, and what's just unnecessary clutter that I'll never use.

You can get any size umbrella you want, you just have to keep some things in mind.
A 60" umbrella requires you to zoom the flash head back a bit in order to fill the umbrella with light, this equals less power.

A small umbrella will be the most efficient, but won't light as big of an area.

Reflective is more efficient and specular. You can use less power or greater working distances.
White reflective is less specular, maybe a smidge softer and less efficient, which means more power is needed, or a decreased working distance.

I really, REALLY like the Paul C. Buff silver PLM mods as a umbrella type modifier. They are really efficient in their output so I can use a large modifier and still get enough light for most situations.

Reflective or pass through? BOTH! Most white bounce umbrellas will have a black removable cover to convert it to shoot-thru. In my opinion, the white umbrellas look better, so I tend to use those most of the time, and a shoot through whenever I can. But I think you'll need both some white ones and some silver ones.

Each umbrella does something different, so I would own some of each just to make sure you always have a tool for the job. They hardly weigh anything or take up any space. I have my umbrellas and light stands in a duffel bag I bought for 8 bucks which always stays in the trunk of my car.

The sunset portrait is so easy it ought to be illegal For a group that big you should have two lights, or one giant source like the PLM mentioned above.

So guys how does your umbrellas work in the wind on the beach?

bobbyz wrote in post #12604588
So guys how does your umbrellas work in the wind on the beach?

My question as well. Even at 8:30 at night, there will still be a steady 15-20mph breeze coming off the water. I honestly don't know how you'd control something like a large PLM on soft sand. Tethering it wouldn't be easy due to its size.

dave

Thanks for all the comments, especially bdillon for more info on umbrellas.

I'll see how the wind is when I scope it out tonight & this weekend. I think I may plan on two smaller umbrellas (32" maybe?), one on each side of the group, and weigh them down with sandbags (my wife can sew me some sandbags for almost-free) to mitigate any problems with wind.

Any tips on gelling a Speedlite to play nice with sunset lighting?
Any reason to NOT gel and use an umbrella simultaneously? (other than slightly reduced power output)

I would use two beauty dishes. You should be able to cover a group of seven.
But, you could just use two big reflectors.

Either way you are going to need an assistant or two. Doing this shoot on your own will be tough, and even tougher with a good wind.

nathancarter wrote in post #12604666
Thanks for all the comments, especially bdillon for more info on umbrellas.

I'll see how the wind is when I scope it out tonight & this weekend. I think I may plan on two smaller umbrellas (32" maybe?), one on each side of the group, and weigh them down with sandbags (my wife can sew me some sandbags for almost-free) to mitigate any problems with wind.

Any tips on gelling a Speedlite to play nice with sunset lighting?
Any reason to NOT gel and use an umbrella simultaneously? (other than slightly reduced power output)

Depends on the look. With the sunset you can gel warm, then white balance to tungsten so it cools off the sunset and you get some nice blues and purples, or; gel cool and white balance warm so it the sunset looks like it's on fire. Let the phase of your sunset determine what you should do. When you have lots of pinks and blues, gel warm if you want to enhance those. During the orange phase, gel cool so you can set the sky on fire.

bobbyz wrote in post #12604588
So guys how does your umbrellas work in the wind on the beach?

I wouldn't even think of it without a person there to hold the stand. It's doable.
When I'm not shooting, the umbrella gets broken down and removed.

bdillon wrote in post #12604760
Depends on the look. With the sunset you can gel warm, then white balance to tungsten so it cools off the sunset and you get some nice blues and purples, or; gel cool and white balance warm so it the sunset looks like it's on fire. Let the phase of your sunset determine what you should do. When you have lots of pinks and blues, gel warm if you want to enhance those. During the orange phase, gel cool so you can set the sky on fire.

Thanks. Sounds like it's a good time to pull out my handy-dandy new popup gray card.

nathancarter wrote in post #12604938
Thanks. Sounds like it's a good time to pull out my handy-dandy new popup gray card.

Maybe. I usually just use a camera preset so I can get a good visual on my camera screen and then set it in post. I use tungsten when I gel warm and shade or cloudy when I gel cool. The reason I don't use a gray card is because I usually set my sunset shots a little bit warmer as I feel they look more natural.

If you're gelling, then ambient light better not be contributing much to the exposure on your subjects, or you may get oompa loompa looking people. Keep that in mind.

How many lights do you have?
What area are you in? If you're in Oregon you can borrow some of my gear as long as you leave me a 100% refundable deposit and live by the "you break it, you bought it" rule.

Thanks for the offer, but I'm in Tampa. Right now I just have the 430EXII, no significant modifiers except the beauty dish, diffuser and reflectors listed in my first post. But, I just got a nice bonus at my day job, and thought this would be a good opportunity to expand my kit a little.

I figure if I use the gray card, and use gels match my speedlite to the ambient light, then I should be able to do WB in post to make the skin hues look right. That might make the background too cool, I don't know.

Well, I'm hopefully headed out to do some 'speriments tonight, I'll post some results.

As somebody that sails fairly frequently, I can tell you that the wind from day to day can be VERY different. So take whatever you see today with a grain of salt.