Studio Lighting for Small Groups

As a starting point for lighting a single subject in the studio, I

set up 2 strobes at about 45 degree angles from the subject, at a

ratio of 3:1 main:fill, with the strobes being shot through or

bounced off of some type of light modifier. (Background is lit with

a separate strobe, and is irrelevant to this question.) With some

minor adjustments this gives nice results, with pleasant facial

shadows and good modeling.<p>

 

Unfortunately, this set up doesn't work well for groups of people as

those on the fill side are not properly illuminated and often have

bad shadow patterns on them. The easist solution is to have the

strobes at 45 degrees and set at 1:1, where everyone is evenly

illuminated. While everyone is lit, I find the lighting to look

flat, and the modeling to be much less.<p>

 

Any suggestions on strobe placement and lighting ratios to start with

for shooting groups of 2 or 3.

Interesting question, Arnie.

 

One light on each side of the camera, even with different power ratios is seldom an attractive solution. You'd be much better off placting your Key light on one side and your Fill light at the lens axis, above the lens to create a 3/1 ratio. Add a fill Card or flat on the side opposite your main Key light.

 

Even out the lighting caused by the more powerful Key light by feathering that light towards the fill side of the group. In other words, aim it slightly towards the person who is farthest away on the fill side of the group. You can use an incident meter to check your ratios and light falloff from one side to the other.

 

Use large umbrellas or Softboxes to soften the light.

Arnie...

Sorry for the poor scan, but; I shot this family group about a week ago with two umbrellas (60" main - 41" fill). Main set at f11 and fill at f8, overall exposure at f11. The main was about eye level to camera right, and the fill was a little higher than eye level, and next to the camera.

Here's one 45" Halo (Westcott) at camera left (no fill, and directed per Brooks descroiption above), with one blue gel'd grid on the background (which was 6ft behind the subjects)... t<div></div>

I wound up using two strobes, bounced through Photek Softlighters (with gold disk to add a little warmth). Lights were set up according to Brooks post. Main light was at 45 degrees (rt side of camera) and fill on lens axis and above; ratio 3 main: 1 fill. Fill card was not needed.<p>

Thanks for all your suggestions!<div></div>

Good job, Arnie !

 

You can experiment with your light ratios by increasing or decreasing the power to the on-axis fill light. You can do this with either strobe power or distance.

 

If you do want a 3/1 lighting ratio the Key light only has to be one stop brighter than the fill light, measured with an incident meter at the subject's position. Think of it this way.....2 units of key light and one unit of fill added together yields 2 units on the lit side of the subject and one unit on both the lit and shadow side of the subject. 2 plus one units of light on the lit side equals 3 units of light and one unit of light on the fill side.

 

Much better than a "copy Setup" with both lights at a 45 degree position relative to the camera, don't you think ?

Great job Arnie...! I'm sure the client liked them.

Tom...

Was your background already "blue" in color, or was that entirely the result of the gel?

Really nice Arnie. Good advice from the dependable Mr. Short. And Bob, yep, the background was already blue. An unfiltered white light in the grid would have washed out the blue fabric, making it lighter and <i>less</i> blue... t

Arnie,

Nice job on the pic, but do you know or anyone else here know how to do that pic and keep the lights that were on the tree in the background more vibrant? In other words when i take a pic of the lit xmas tree with a flash the flash overpowers the xmas tree lights, making it look like it is unlit. I have read some of the post, but dont understand how to do a time exposure then a flash with the people in the pic as one thread described. Happy Holidays...

Dave,

 

Showing the Christmas tree lights is just a matter of dragging the shutter and capturing enough ambient light for the lights to expose properly.

 

Try this. Use a flash exposure for the main exposure of the people and tree. This flash exposure can be simply the flash on your camera, or a more complex setup, like actual studio lighting using softboxes, umbrellas etc. Combine a reasonable f-stop, such as f8 for the flash exposure and use a long shutter speed for the tree lights, maybe 1 second or more.

 

The procedure might go something like this. Arrange your people in front of or beside the tree. Instruct them to stay as still as possible. Turn off the lights in the room. Turn on the lights on the Christmas tree. Say cheese. Shoot the photo at 1 sec and f-8 on 100-200 ISO film. Faster film would give you a tighter f-stop and shorter shutter speed. Do some exposure brackets around the 1 second shutter speed, using the same f-stop so that the tree lights are recorded at brighter exposures.

 

Let us know how it works out !

 

Happy, Happy, Merry, Merry #8^)

But for what color background? Use more distance from the subject with your lights to elongate the light fall-off. The blue pic above seems to have a hot center, hard black nose shadows, so I think it is so-so. To do 2-3 people, consider using theatrical poses that entwine their arms, legs. Simply "stacking bodies" is alittle boring. I would cool it on the black shadows, use 2:1 for womens faces. Use "butterfly lighting" on women. For superb job, use fresnel lighting, like in old Hollywood films. Think of the issue of exposing wrinkles. Use under chin reflectors. I like the saturated blue color above, but not the lighting. When doing large groups, use alittle more distance from the the group to your lights for eveness. Turn the bodies of some of the group members towards the opposite light to model nose shadows.

"Hot Spot" is deliberate. As for the "hard black nose shadows"... this is 72ppi at 4x6 inches... need I say more? And these folks weren't about to go for "entwined arms and legs" or any other "theatrics".<p> How about an example of the effect you're recommending, Timber? <i>With</i> theatrics, please... t

Here's the subject formating the lights/set were actually built for... t<div></div>

Brooks...

 

I gave it a shot....Would have liked more light on my subject, but this was just a test. What do you think? Dave<div></div>

a tad bit more light....F8 at 1/2 sec<div></div>

I think this may be the answer, just need to refine it a bit....Here is what i learned from my advice from my friends at photo.net

1) Move subject away from tree, closer to camera....

2" do ambient light thingy first, then flash.....Rear synch works too!

 

expermient experiment experiment....

Dave,

 

I think you've got it Dave. A little more bracketing of the ambient light from the tree and the strobe light on the person and you'll find the perfect combination. This kind of shot with mixed lights of very different exposure levels is always hard to do balance without some kind of visual proofing such as polaroid or digital capture.

 

Here's another idea more to do with vision than lighting technique, if you're interested. I understand that you might be wanting to show the whole tree in your shot but often less is more.

 

Setup a shot with a much tighter crop on the person, showing part of the tree as the entire background. Use a longer lens, say 100mm or so on 35mm film, and let the tree fill the background and be out of focus. No need to show the entire chair and floor, or the entire tree for that matter.

 

It's the same old advice of get closer to your subject and fill the frame.

 

But it is fun to control the tree lights and subject light seperately to create a more illustrative photograph with some subtlty of lighting......don't you think ?

In addition to following Brook's advice, try pulling that bright light (coming from the left) a little closer to the camera, and keep it pointing at your subject... t