Lighting Advice for my Outdoor Shoot

Hello All,

This Sunday I am shooting a woman, her mother, and her two sisters outside in a very nice public park. I photographed the woman and her husband a few months ago in the same place, but I have upgraded my lighting equipment recently and really want to take this Sunday's shoot to "the next level" so to speak. First shoot a few months ago I used my Yongnuo 468TTL mounted on my 550D's hot shoe with a Demb Flip-It to bounce a little fill flash at them. I'm sure you will all be pleased to know that my new setup contains the following:

Camera and Speedlight are the same, but I have added:

-Wireless transmitters for off-camera flash
-7 foot light stand
-43 inch convertible umbrella (white shoot-through/black cover)

So now my questions. The shoot will either be early morning or late afternoon (waiting to hear back from her). I plan to shoot in Manual mode on the camera and TTL with the flash, but my big questions are about the lighting specifically (reminder that this will be 4 ladies):

1) Should I use the light stand/umbrella setup for fill flash?
2) If so, should it be setup shoot-through or bounced back with the black cover on?
3) Should this whole setup be placed behind me, right next to me, or somewhere a little off to the side of me (like 30 degrees or something)?
4) How high should the light stand/umbrella be in this scenario? On level with the people, up high and aimed down slightly?
5) As far as the sun goes, should I be thinking about side-lighting with the sun, and filling in the shadow side with the speedlight?

I would appreciate any tips - thanks!

Firstly, you should join the Boston thread, here: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1332562 lots of locals and meets where we meet up and learn things together.

As to your question...

1. Honestly, with speedlights in the morning you'll have little effect. Unless they are extremely close to the subjects. Almost in the frame, close. The late afternoon would be better, say 5pm or later this time of year.

2. Shoot through, if you bounce will lose you roughly another stop.

3. Off to the side is best. Again, remember this is a speedlight, so not a huge amount of power will come from it. So you can't have it too far away from the subjects.

4. Height isn't a huge concern, anything between 6ft to 8ft is fine.

5. That would be the best scenario.

#2. I wonder if the OP meant reflective by putting the cover on?

Even reflective they will lose 'some' light.

True. However would he not lose less with reflective rather than shooting through?

Well i guess it depends on how you are interpreting what he wrote. I was assuming he'd leave the front diffuser on, shooting through or bouncing. If you take it to mean he'd take it off if bouncing, then that's another matter.

Sounds good.

digital paradise wrote in post #16345583
Sounds good.

Thank you.

RandMan wrote in post #16345477
Camera and Speedlight are the same, but I have added:

-Wireless transmitters for off-camera flash
-7 foot light stand
-43 inch convertible umbrella (white shoot-through/black cover)

you need to add:

-Sandbags for light stand

digital paradise wrote in post #16345506
#2. I wonder if the OP meant reflective by putting the cover on?

Yes - putting the black cover on the umbrella and aiming the flash inside the umbrella to reflect backwards.

symbolphoto wrote in post #16345580
Well i guess it depends on how you are interpreting what he wrote. I was assuming he'd leave the front diffuser on, shooting through or bouncing. If you take it to mean he'd take it off if bouncing, then that's another matter.

When you say "the front diffuser" are you referring to the slide-out attachment built in to the flash - the wide angle diffuser I believe it's called. If so, this should be used right? So that it spreads the light more and has less of a "spotlight" effect?

hes gone wrote in post #16345645
=he's gone;16345645]you need to add:

-Sandbags for light stand

Thank you! I'm going out today to get something to weight the stand.

RandMan wrote in post #16348151
Thank you! I'm going out today to get something to weight the stand.

Ankle weights work well. They have velcro straps and wrap nicely around the stand post.

Out of curiosity I measured the difference in light intensity between shoot-through and reflective on my 45" convertible. Four feet from the tip of the umbrella, shoot-through, I got f/5.6+.5 at ISO 200 with a 430EX II at 1/1. Reflective, measured from the perimeter of the umbrella, f/5.6+.9. So in my case, reflective is almost half a stop more efficient.

RandMan wrote in post #16348151
Yes - putting the black cover on the umbrella and aiming the flash inside the umbrella to reflect backwards.

When you say "the front diffuser" are you referring to the slide-out attachment built in to the flash - the wide angle diffuser I believe it's called. If so, this should be used right? So that it spreads the light more and has less of a "spotlight" effect?

Thank you! I'm going out today to get something to weight the stand.

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