Lighting large groups

I am going to shoot a class reunion soon and was wondering about lighting the

class photo. How do go about properly lighting a large group of people (about

60-80 people). Thanks in advance.

Big mono strobe high on stand aimed down with large light modifier ... or if the ceiling is

white or light neutral, bounce off it.

Rent a 4803 speedotron pack and a couple of 102 heads,set them for 2400 watts apiece shot into 2 60' umbrellas should do the trick. This will probably give you f16. for the DOF that you need to get the back row in focus.

Use daylight if possible.

Unfortunately there is no place that rents ANYTHING like that in Hawaii. I was thinking maybe a couple or even a few monos might do the trick. I have never worked with them before so at least I got a couple months to practice.

I've done groups this size with 2 lights (standard reflector ... no umbrellas, softbox, etc.). Place the key 35 degrees off axis from the camera and aimed at the opposite end of the group. Place the fill (-1 stop from key) at camera position.

Look at Danny Wong's response in the following post, as well as others.

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00B5iJ

 

I've done the two flashes on opposites sides of the camera routine with groups of the size you mention. It works fine. You could do it with medium power flashes too--no need for really heavy duty flashes, although outside in bright Hawaiian sunshine, you may feel pinched for flash power.

If I'm traveling light, I use two stands with silver umbrellas at 45 degrees to the left and right of the group with SB800s as the light source. The umbrellas should be about 8' off the ground (at least). If I want more light or power I mount 2 SB800s per stand (4 total). If I want a better quality of light then I bring out my Profoto studio lights.

 

As an aside, if you use a single light like someone suggested, you might get light falloff at the edges of your frame. That's why I'd recommend 2 lights, each one at a 45 degree angle to the group.

The day light solution would work best, unfortunately the event will be in the evening so even if I get them out doors I will still need some fill. I like the simplicity of the two light approach for sure. What kind of watts are we talking here, I was thinking of just going and buying 2 1600 effective(whatever that means) watt heads and umbrellas is that enough? Sorry for the questions but I am a newb when it comes to this kind of lighting.

Depends on what ISO and apertures you want to use, which might be dependent on how big a print you need later, and what modifiers, if any, you put on the flashes. 1600 watt seconds would probably be fine and overkill for no modifiers on the flashes, even at ISO 100. How big of a final print do you need?

The final prints will be 8x10's. The reason I was looking at 1600's (AB's) with soft boxes or umbrellas is I can stop them down if need be, and isn't always better to have the power to spare? I really appreciate the help guys!

just been doing test to prove lighting of large groups, groups up to 24 good results achieved with sb 28 speedlght set on top fuji s2 pro at 125 f11 gave good results 25 to 50 group 2xsb 28 speedlights wired in paralel either side of s2 pro 125 f11 excelent results flashes set to ttl on both tests. also did shot of 50 group with camera set to p and no flash the result was excelent but tri pod esential as slow shutter speed activated

If you're going to use them with softboxes and other modifiers, then they'd be fine, because you need lots of power since you need to place the flashes at adequate distances from the group. For 8x10s, I commonly use ISO 400 and f5.6 (inside) if the group isn't deeper than 4 tightly packed rows. If you have other uses for the flashes and money is no object, they'd be great, and yes, you can always dial down. The only time this becomes irritating is if you can't dial down enough. Also, be careful if using umbrellas and softboxes outside due to the wind factor.

My wife snapped this shot at my class reunion using the Canon 20D with the kit lens 18-55 at 25mm, F8, 1/100, iso 400. One Vivitar 283 flash on full power did the job. I used a 150 pixel feather in photoshop to select the ends of the group to boost the levels to correct for light fall-off. I cropped, put two copies on a 12x18 canvas for Costco printing so that each 6x18 print only cost $1.50.

This is the original shot of the class reunion before processing in photoshop.

Thanks for the input folks,you are all very helpful! Although money is always an object I do want to do the best job possible, and although I wont be using them a lot I know that I will always have uses for them later.