lighting for indoor team photo

Will be taking an indoor team photo within the next few weeks. The team consists of ~13 people and they will be placed in 2 rows.

My thought is 1 or 2 large umbrellas placed close to on axis behind me with mono lights. Will get the lights as far back as possible (thinking inverse square law here) so I make sure I have both rows lit and hopefully the back wall. If not I'll light the back wall separately.

Just want to make sure I'm on the correct track here.

Well, two large umbrellas on either side of you and feathered properly will most definitely work to light a group like that evenly. I've done it with one light too, and I've even managed it with a flash on camera if there's decent ambient light in the indoor location and I don't care about a little light falloff away from the subjects. I guess you could light the back wall separately if there's something important to show on that wall. Otherwise, I'd think it's mostly about even lighting on the subjects. If this is a professional sports team and the picture will be in Sports Illustrated, then you might use 2-3 strobes. If this is a youth sports team for their annual team photo, people will only be looking at the faces. If the lighting is nice and balanced, pay more attention to getting all 13 of them looking at you with decent expressions on their faces! Take a bunch of shots to be sure!

You have the right idea. WIth only two rows you dont have to get the monolights too far back to prevent falloff like you might if there were 3 or more rows.

Thanks all. This is a youth sports team. So if I did want to use an on camera flash, I'd want to be pretty far back to take it right? I'll be using a FF and have 35, 50, 85, 135 lenses available.

Any of the lenses will work, maybe the 50 would be better than the 35 to prevent any perspective distortion. Take a look and see what you think.