Question for the lighting experts here!

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone whose posted in here. I am looking at buying some lights and such, and have learned a great deal just from reading the posts in this forum. But that's not my reason for posting.

We finally received my son's team composite picture on the weekend. His individual picture is OK, but the issue lies in the team picture.

The kids (5 and 6 year olds) are sitting on a bench with the coach standing behind them. The kids seem exposed properly, but as you go from the kids faces to the top of the photo, the coach and background seem very dark.

I looked at some of the other parents (different teams) photos, and they were all similar.

The photographer's response to this was "the images look darker this year as a grey backdrop was used this year as opposed to the ice photo used in the past."

This was my son's first year, so I had no reference. I think it was just bad lighting. I would post the picture, but I do not have a digital copy.

With what I described, would it be a lighting issue?

Here is a link to my son's individual photo, so at least you can see the background he used

http://www.cescato.com …_GDC9094pc_n08_​cc_wp.html

Thanks in advance,

Tom

The lighting appears to be a Main set out to one side(camera right), a Fill set to the other side (camera left) but closer to the camera. At the same time, the angle difference in the shadow cast by the hockey stick vs. the body indicates some separate lighting for the b/g....4 lights total.

The subject is positioned fairly close to the backdrop. The lights are set relatively low...so the shadow is cast by the subject onto the background rather than falling down onto the floor. I blame subject placement in combination with lighting too low so that shadows are cast on the background, leading to the 'darker' appearance of the background.

Thanks Wilt. I wish I had a copy of the team photo to post. The one in the link looks great compared to it. I am trying to recall the lighting setup - wish I'd paid better attention....

I'm clearly guessing, but I think I can reason from what you posted that the lights may have been placed too low in the team picture- not so bad for the kids sitting on the bench, but leaving the coach's face fairly dark.

From some email circulating now, it seems like I'm not the only parent not impressed with the quality.

pigdude wrote in post #7296108
Thanks Wilt. I wish I had a copy of the team photo to post. The one in the link looks great compared to it. I am trying to recall the lighting setup - wish I'd paid better attention....

I'm clearly guessing, but I think I can reason from what you posted that the lights may have been placed too low in the team picture- not so bad for the kids sitting on the bench, but leaving the coach's face fairly dark.

From some email circulating now, it seems like I'm not the only parent not impressed with the quality.

With 2-3 rows of kids and then the coach, the Inverse Square falloff of light could well be the culprit. And if the lights are set low, that is accentuated more than if the lights were set high.

There was only one row of kids - just four of them in his picture. Its hockey school, and the kids teams are by jersey colour. No more than 5 on a team.

Kids were seated, with their heads about at the coach's waist level

From the looks of this one, he also had troubles with his sync speed...
Not a very good photographer IMO.

I say "bad lighting".

Thanks Rene. I just wanted to be sure. I'm no pro, but I'm happy that it looks like I've learned a few things here!

pigdude wrote in post #7296462
There was only one row of kids - just four of them in his picture. Its hockey school, and the kids teams are by jersey colour. No more than 5 on a team.

Kids were seated, with their heads about at the coach's waist level

Even with only a single row of kids, if the lights were 5.5' away from the kids and the coach was at 8', there is a -1EV falloff of light intensity where the coach is standing.