Question about lighting setup

I'm in need of assistance! I am trying to do a few Christmas portraits this upcoming friday for some friends. I'm fairly new to shooting indoors and with lights. I have ordered the Calumet Genesis 400 2-Light Kit but sadly it will not arrive until next week. So I am either going to have to rent equipment or use some lights I borrowed from a friend.

Can anyone suggest a setup with the equipment below or even post a diagram? Any help would be appreciated! I'm shooting with the 7D and 17-55 f2.8 and i'll have the expodisc to set the white balance. I have a pretty big room with florescent lights that can be turned off.

This is what I have:
*Camera, Tripod, Trigger
*Backdrop (10x20 Red Diamond cloth) and stand
*36in Reflector 5-in-1
*Plenty of cardboard, whiteboard, white/black diamond cloth
*Speedlight 430EX II w/ stofen
*2 Photoflex Starlite Lights w/ either 500 or 1000 watt bulbs w/ softboxes, diffusers, waffles

Here is the link for the lights...
http://www.photoflex.c​om …_Digital_Kit_2/​index.html

and specs:
http://www.photoflex.c​om …Specifications/​index.html

1000 watt lights:
3200 kelvin
Lux @ 10 feet - 400
F-stop @ 10 feet - f2.0 @ 1/30 sec.
F.V @ 10 feet - 7

Would this work? And if it would, should I get any lamp available and try to light the background a bit?

subscribing, I'd be interested in the answer as I've just started using two lights. I have experimented with different setups and I am not 100% happy with results so far.

Your setup looks okay. The nice thing about continuous lights is you see what you are getting up front. Dont try to mix in your 430ex as you will have color balance issues unless you gel it. You can do a test to see the effect of the ambient light. Ordinarily with flashes it wouldnt be an issue, but you may have to work slow enough with the continuous lights that it may contribute a little color cast.

gonzogolf wrote in post #9215477
Your setup looks okay. The nice thing about continuous lights is you see what you are getting up front. Dont try to mix in your 430ex as you will have color balance issues unless you gel it. You can do a test to see the effect of the ambient light. Ordinarily with flashes it wouldnt be an issue, but you may have to work slow enough with the continuous lights that it may contribute a little color cast.

Yea, I didn't think using the speedlite with the softboxes would work too well. Are two 1000 watt softboxes going to give me enough light? How slow am I going to have to shoot at?

That greatly depends on the aperture you pick. I havent used continuous lights that bright in a while so I cant say off the top of my head. You may be in handholdable range, but I think I would plan on having a tripod on hand just to be sure. I dont think we are talking super slow, but possibly slow enough that camera shake might be an issue handheld.

I would put one light on either side, up high, and in the softboxes. You could then use the speedlights for the background if you want, but it isn't necessary.

Here is a shot I took of some people at my work the other day. umbrell on either side of the group, up high, and feathered. I also had one light in a strip box on the background.

^ Perfect example of what Im looking for...

Can I get the same results with 2 1000 watt softboxes versus umbrellas? Will I be able to shoot at f9 so everyone is in focus?

JaredBush wrote in post #9216979
Yea, I didn't think using the speedlite with the softboxes would work too well. Are two 1000 watt softboxes going to give me enough light? How slow am I going to have to shoot at?

With two 1K watt softboxes setup in a way that the key is somewhat supplemented by a neutral on-axis fill, I'm thinking that you could shoot f/8 in the area of 1/25-1/60, at ISO 400. If you are using a reflector for fill (with the other softbox as a backlight), you may have to raise the ISO to 800 to keep the shutter speeds reasonable at f/8. YMMV.

JaredBush wrote in post #9214501
Would this work? And if it would, should I get any lamp available and try to light the background a bit?

Doesn't this setup cast shadows if there are more people in the picture? I think the two light up front would work better for larger groups.

I played around with everything tonight... Here is what I am working with:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

I like how Doidinho's is pretty evenly lit. How can I achieve something closer to what he had?

Doidinho's photo was f9 - 1/160 - 100 ISO

Mine are closer to f9 - 1/40 - 800 ISO

Are my lights just not strong enough?

Kinda noisy I think, any need for the 800 ISO? You're going to get quite a bit of the red cast due to the background reflecting from everywhere so I think you'll be disappointed with the skin tone. I've used a similar setup but I used umbrellas and you don't lose as much light.

Looks like you are going to need to lock onto the tripod and go even slower with the shutter speeds.

Update: Here is a pic of the results... I am happy with them, but I think I've got a lot of room for improvement!