2 umbrellas, 2 flashes for large group shots?

Hi all, I'm anticipating photographing my first "large" indoor church wedding, and just wondering what you would do with my setup? I currently have 2 umbrellas (1 softlighter, actually) 45" and 46", and a 580EXII as well as a 430EXII set off using radiopopper JrX's. looking through the forums, I see that the most common way is to use 1 umbrella high overhead angled at the group. Would it be prudent to try and use both my umbrellas in the same fashion but maybe one brolly 3 feet left and one 3 feet right of me? What's the maximum number of people you'd suggest lighting in this way? Any input would be fantastic, as I've never lit a "large" group before without natural light

What's a "large" group? How many people are we talking here?

the wedding itself is around 175. i'm assuming the largest group would be 40-45 or so at the most (i hope...)?

That seems like an uncommonly large group; are you sure? It's very rare that I have to shoot a group larger than 20. If you're really doing 40+, your biggest problem will be arranging them so you can see everyone, not how to light them.

If it were me, I suppose I'd use two speedlights at comparable power, one a few feet to each side of the camera in umbrellas pointed directly toward the group and very high up. If, however, your group is "only" 20 or so, you'd be suprised by how well you can do with a single speedlight and umbrella. This group of ~20 was shot with just one 580 off to camera right through a small 22" umbrella. Other than the small boy who couldn't be coaxed out from behind the couch, it's farely well lit for a single light.

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I agree with what Robert said. Two speedlights/umbrella combos should be plenty. But it might be worthwhile to cox the couple into shooting smaller groups instead of one large group.

I had a recent wedding where the bride wanted the entire wedding party plus guests in a single pic. This is what I came up with.

Ain't pretty, but it is what it is I guess.

I rarely do this type of shot. Once years ago I messed it up by using multiple bare speedlites, I got horrible shadows on people and the wall. Horrible. Took ages to make it ok in photoshop. I do group photos outside now. Once I had to do them in a gym, I bounced the light off the very high ceiling. It was fine. High ISO is no problem.

The light directly overhead is to reduce the chance of someone in the 2nd or further back row being in the shadow of someone else. So one main light is best. Have an accent light if you want, but I wouldn't.

You have to be careful of reflections in the background. You may also need a ladder. Restrict the size of groups if you need to.

Honestly, keep it simple. Also, practice, if you can, but getting big groups is difficult.

Thanks for the great input and examples, all!! Will put it into play and hope for the best

I agree, one light is best. I had a large group last weekend and, since it was raining outside, we had to do all the group shots inside the church. My initial setup was two OCF bounced into 30" silver/black umbrellas, setup on the outer edges of the group at 45 degree angles. I liked the light this produced but there were a lot of shadows behind the group. Switching to one OCF, placed directly behind me and raised up to about nine feet, yielded much better results.

PhotoMatte wrote in post #13449501
I agree, one light is best. I had a large group last weekend and, since it was raining outside, we had to do all the group shots inside the church. My initial setup was two OCF bounced into 30" silver/black umbrellas, setup on the outer edges of the group at 45 degree angles. I liked the light this produced but there were a lot of shadows behind the group. Switching to one OCF, placed directly behind me and raised up to about nine feet, yielded much better results.

Sometimes the easiest solutions produce the best light. Have you tried with three light sources...? One in the middle and two on each side? I guess it is getting complicated but I am just wondering....

oharing wrote in post #16740757
Sometimes the easiest solutions produce the best light. Have you tried with three light sources...? One in the middle and two on each side? I guess it is getting complicated but I am just wondering....

Guess I forgot to say I also had my 580EXII on-camera in that setup. Now that I've switched to three 600RT speedlights, everything is much simpler: the two off-camera lights are set to Manual and the on-camera speedlight is set to E-TTL

PhotoMatte wrote in post #16747108
Guess I forgot to say I also had my 580EXII on-camera in that setup. Now that I've switched to three 600RT speedlights, everything is much simpler: the two off-camera lights are set to Manual and the on-camera speedlight is set to E-TTL

Can you post some photos how the photos turn out... ?
Thanks!

Sure, here's an example:

http://photomatte.smug​mug.com …/Allison-Josh/i-MVLDLBZ/A

I'm sending this from my iPad so I hope it works. (If not, it's image #143)

Here's another example, with a single subject this time. The off-camera 600RT on the left was slightly behind the bride in order to give her a little bit of rim light around her hair and separate her from the background.
http://photomatte.smug​mug.com …ylie-Jonathan/i-rX3dgqz/A

And, since the OP was asking about large group shots, here's one more:
http://photomatte.smug​mug.com …/Allison-Josh/i-zgp5Fq2/A