Outdoor portrait lighting help needed...

Later this week, I am doing team portraits for a local cycling team. I have not done many (ANY would be more exact) portraits yet, I'm mainly an action guy. What I do have are two Speedlights- a 580EX II that can be used as a Master, and a 430EX that can be used as a Slave. I was thinking maybe have the 580 on-camera with a diffuser (I was thinking maybe a Lumiquest SoftBox) and the 430EX mounted on a lightstand with an umbrella. Would this setup be correct?

Someone will eventually say this, so I might as well do it, get yourself over to strobist.com.

Depending on what time of day, and how many people, you might not have enough power to sacrifice by using a softbox. Get some wireless triggers, or even cables to get the first flash off camera, and shoot both through umbrellas nice and close as main and fill. Use the sun as a backlight, and you should be on to something. Get the group in the shade as well, you'll get more control over the light. You could alternate that set up, using the sun as the main, flash as the fill, then you have another light to play with.

Obviously you'll get a much more proffesional opinion shortly, as I'm pretty new to this stuff as well, but I'm just trying to voice my take on this job, because it helps me, too.

Oh, and, if you balance the light right, you won't need to use umbrellas at all, as long as you're filling the shadows to some degree, you'll be alright - it's a sports team, not a glamour shoot, remember.

My Sunpak 383 + 580EX struggled to keep up with the sun at full power when shooting through an umbrella with subject distance from light being no more than 6' and sometimes a bit less. More power es muy bueno.

Whatever you do, do it either in the early morning or late afternoon/evening. Don't fight the noon sun. You won't win.

It will be late in the afternoon. After pondering the advice here, what do you guys think about the 580 on camera and the 430 as a slave off to the side mounted on a tripod. Both with direct flash (+/- FEC as needed)- direct flash, no umbrellas.

emtp563 wrote in post #5589670
It will be late in the afternoon. After pondering the advice here, what do you guys think about the 580 on camera and the 430 as a slave off to the side mounted on a tripod. Both with direct flash (+/- FEC as needed)- direct flash, no umbrellas.

If you get it balanced right, you'll be fine.

If you are shooting in the late afternoon, you might have enough light to go ahead and use an umbrella. If you keep it close you will get the maximum power from it, and still get the effect of a larger source. But if you are shooting multiple people in the same frame, you might still find yourself on the edge.

If you know of any friends that might also have a compatible strobe, it might be wise to borrow one or two just in case. If you strap two 580's together, you'll gain another f-stop of power which might be enough to still allow the use of an umbrella for small group shots, and then just turn it off when doing individual shots.

Using the small strobes for multiple light setups can be challenging, but a whole lot of fun as well.

cdifoto wrote in post #5589582
Whatever you do, do it either in the early morning or late afternoon/evening. Don't fight the noon sun. You won't win.

That's why i use a studio strobe and pack... then you can do just about anything LOL

Then again, i mainly shoot glamour so can scrim it too.

Rob