group shot

I have been asked to do a shoot at a 60th wedding anniversary in October and one of the shots will be a group of 30-40. It will be a 50 50 chance as to whether i will be able to take the shot outside due to weather. The function is at a local fire hall with low (8 foot) ceilings so the ability to shoot from very high is not there. Any suggestions? Can i get wide enough with my 24-70? I am really concerned about lighting with only one flash on bracket over the camera, shooting with a 40D so the 24 is really 38.....

The flash on camera is a 580, I have a couple of other flashes that could be remotely triggered with a slave cell.

Any suggestions? Besides shoot and pray?

Shoot RAW, high ISO, bounced flash, and you should be able to recover it in post. It won't come out great but it'll be better than nothing. Slave flashes bounced to illuminate the rear of the group will help.

Did that size group a while back. Had the people in two rows with kids on the floor in front. Used a 17mm focal length and was about 25' or so away. Used a 580 and 430 on light stands about 12' away at 45 degrees, one left and one right. Everybody thought the photo was good. Could have used a back light for seperation as we were close to a wall.

Problem with lights to the sides is you can get shadows on the faces of people in the back row. Bounced is safe. 17mm will give you some distortion on the edges, but sometimes you need to use it. I've had to use 10-12mm in the past.

So, with my 24 mm (actual 38 because of the 1.6 factor) I will have to make less more than two rows..so not spread as wide a part with two flashes on sides and one on bracket over camk, all three bounced? Obviously a manual exposure? Oh boy, lol, one of these days I will learn to say no.

DarenM wrote in post #8535407
So, with my 24 mm (actual 38 because of the 1.6 factor) I will have to make less more than two rows..so not spread as wide a part with two flashes on sides and one on bracket over camk, all three bounced? Obviously a manual exposure? Oh boy, lol, one of these days I will learn to say no.

"Less more"?

Here's how i'd do it, with your equipment - and you should practice in advance:
- One flash on full power on your camera, no bracket. Point it at the ceiling half way between you and your group. Experiment with zoom settings.
- One flash on each side of the group on light stands, maybe half way between you and the group, maybe a bit closer to them. Half or full power, pointed at the ceiling above the first row. Experiment with where they're pointed, in front of the first row, above the first row, etc.
- Be as far away as you can, but the further away you are the more zoom you'll need to set on the flash head.
- ISO800, F8, 1/100th. Adjust ISO and aperture as required to get a good exposure. Watch for shadows.
- Practice in that location in advance, with as many helpers as you can round up.

Lighting is one aspect your gonna have to work on and you've been given good advice on that already... but before you go any further you need to work out if 24mm on a crop is gonna be wide enough to get everyone in frame given the room size you have to work with!

24mm on crop isn't very wide at all, same as Tim when I shot crop bodies with 17-55mm as my standard wide angle lens I would still find myself swapping to the 10-22 on some occasions to get everyone in.... you may have to rent/borrow something if theres not much space to work with.

Thanks for all your suggestions...really appreciated