Lighting setup for indoor big group photography

Do you have any advise on "how to..." set up lighting (two Profoto

2400 ws packs and 2 to 4 heads with or without 8' umbrellas or 7'

softboxes) for photographing large group of people (130)?

They are going to be standing at the local church, on its stage.

Output image � landscape.

I am sure, photo.net community has very experienced photographers.

Please, help!

3 pieces of advice:

 

If there isn't a balcony...

 

Tall light stands.

 

Tall tripod.

 

And a step ladder.

 

Two 2400 watt Profoto generators, 4 heads and 8 foot translucent umbrellas should do

the trick... but they should be high up & tilted down to light the folks in the back rows

evenly.

Just hope they don't catch any wind. A slight breeze on something that big, and they come tumbling down...

When you say standing,Im puzzled(130 abreast)?This has to be done in a tiered situation somehow.In fact you will need bleachers for a group this big.You need to study a sports team portrait to see how this is done.Trying to arrange them standing(10-20 people wide) in height order in rows,and shooting from a ladder is possible but quite difficult.The only way to light this is evenly,that is with several units across the front equally spaced.

The lights going to be mounting on 13' stands with sand bags securing against tipping over.

Whole set up is inside the church.

 

First row will be sitting on floor, second - on chairs and last row is going to stand on chairs

 

Once, I tried four light sources with reflective umbrellas. Result was less then desirable, because each light source created its own shadow. Just imagine four under nose shadows instead of regular one....

That's why you want the translucent type umbrella that you shoot through like a soft-box.

4 translucent umbrellas? You'll still get 4 nose-shadows. I'd fire all 4 heads into one

translucent umbrella above the camera.

 

Just three rows of people - that'll make for a very skinny image. You need to stack

the people up. Or else you need to get up near the ceiling, and bunch your subjects

on the stage.

the total number of rows is going up to 6 with some adds-on in middle

"4 translucent umbrellas? You'll still get 4 nose-shadows."

 

Not if you place them next to one another (2 on each side of the camera and higher) with

the umbrella's set out to maximum coverage ... like a big 30 foot wide light bank. They act

as one long narrow bank to match the longer, more narrow subject shape. IMO, it works,

I've done it when shooting all the guests at a wedding in one group.

 

" I'd fire all 4 heads into one translucent umbrella above the camera."

 

I'd check that first. It may work, but with a group that large, the light fall off at the edges

may be a problem.

A suggestion based on a job I did years ago which was similar, that is, a large group inside a church. We didn't have any studio lighting so we did this with flash bulbs (I said this was years ago) and if anyone had heard of flash brollies they hadn't told us.

 

So we rigged up seven bulb holders around the area where the group would be, each pointing at the stone walls from about four feet. We set up a test about a week before using anyone we could find to mark the corners and centre of the group. It worked well and the lighting was very soft, just what you want with a big group.

 

Two points, though. We were lucky because the walls were very reflective, possibly from hundreds of years of whitewashing, and we were working in black and white so colour casts weren't an issue. Secondly, if you're thinking of this approach you MUST do a test beforehand - keeping a hundred people standing about while you change your mind about the lighting just isn't an option in my experience.

Folks! Someone metioned balcony...

What is good about the balcony? How I can use it in group photography?

Explain, please!