How to light this?

I am going to be shooting a group of 5 people inside a hotel lobby. There are high dark ceilings, and marble floors. I'm currently in process of procuring flash equipment to light the scene. I'm just looking to light all skin evenly. I will be visiting the site later on and will take some pictures to assist. I currently own nothing more than a vagabond II and a 580ex2 with two pocket wizards. Would two AB800's work? How do you decide on using a grid, or an octobox or softbox?

Thanks in advance.

Why do you own a vagabond and no lights?

If it's really dark and you light the people with strobes the background will be dark, unless you light it. That could be difficult, depending how large it is, and how much of it is in the image. You could shoot high ISO and put some additional light on the subjects using a small strobe inside a soft box. It depends on the situation - is in a wedding, a portrait shoot, a commercial shoot, or for fun?

Here's a group of five people in an area much like the one you mentioned, illuminated with a single Sunpak 383 and using a Rebel XTi:

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This demonstrates the problem I mentioned - a dark background. I don't like dark backgrounds, and it's quite busy too. If you'd shot ISO800 the background would've been a lot brighter. You also have mixed color temperatures, putting a CTO gel on the flash would combat this - shooting RAW so you can mess with it later, or shooting JPG with tungsten white balance if you must.

it's for a commercial shoot. Sorry DC Fan, that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something like this:

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So you want to know how to shoot like Annie Leibowitz? Sure, we can teach you that in two paragraphs

Seriously, that's not simple. For people who can't see the image click this link (NB: you'll have to copy the URL and paste it into a new web browser for the link to work).

A lot of that image is in the processing, Dave Hill is I think one person who does that style. Scott Kelby has a take on it, there's a thread on it somewhere. It relies on good lighting. Look at the highlights on the faces, the shadows on the floor, the graduations on the arms of the people, and try to work it out.

If you can't light the background, then gel the strobes to match the background light, then drag the shutter. You might be able to take a separate shot of the background, then merge the two shots.

Here are some pictures of the location:

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What are you trying to achieve with your photos?

tim wrote in post #6229901
So you want to know how to shoot like Annie Leibowitz? Sure, we can teach you that in two paragraphs

Seriously, that's not simple. For people who can't see the image click this link.

A lot of that image is in the processing, Dave Hill is I think one person who does that style. Scott Kelby has a take on it, there's a thread on it somewhere. It relies on good lighting. Look at the highlights on the faces, the shadows on the floor, the graduations on the arms of the people, and try to work it out.

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Copy and paste the link into your web browser, the site has so protection turned on.

tim wrote in post #6235353
What are you trying to achieve with your photos?

An editorioal type look as seen in the vanity fair cover shot. I know I won't be able to match her style so I'll have to settle with what I can do best.

Is the point photos of people or of the location? Where will the image be used?

There are many types of photographs that I can appreciate, even though it might be something I would never do myself. But the mrandrew posted sample photo falls into the same category as 'trash TV' does! Sorry I see no redeeming value to shots like this, and the only point seems to be to shock the viewer (and I don't shock easily).

How is that photo shocking Wilt? I thought it quite tame.