Group shot - 16 people, 1 speedlight?

[tommo]

I have been asked to do a family shot for a lady, initially only going to be 4 adults and a baby. Then she said it could now be 12, then last night I got a message to say it's likely to be 16. Trouble is I only have one SB600 speedlight, and two cheap ebay softboxes with '500W' lights in them.

What would be the best way to light this group shot? I was thinking the softboxes in close and low providing fill light only with the speedlight 'some distance' behind me, maybe with the light coming over my head? I've not seen the room at the location but it'll be a living/dining room I think.

I have been wanting to buy a Lencarta Smartflash and a large softbox for a while - is now the time to get it to provide more light for the shot? It will be in the evening so will be no ambient daylight, I'm concerned there'll be too little light.

 

[JonathanRyan]

I don't know what your eBay "500w" lights are but I'd do this with just the speedlight.

As far back as you can and about a foot above eyeline. Pointed at them. Really.

Hope you're charging a lot. I learned early on with kids that 2 is a lot more than 1 and 3 is an massive amount more than 2. 16 in a house sounds exciting.

 

[tommo]

To be honest the eBay lights are useless! I'll try your suggested method, thanks for the tip.
I hope they have a huge room as 16 in a small living room will be a tad cosy!
Not discussed price yet...

 

[DizMatt]

i've done some groups with 2-3 speedlights with some success.
what's the ambient light going to be like?
I've found that if it's poor then the speedlights will create a lot of shadows.
if the ambient is okay, then the speedlights will help fill and tone things much better.
can you get a huge catchlight card on it to help out you?
I have a snoot from ebay that opens out into a wide reflector by the magic of velcro.

 

[HoppyUK]

16 is less of a group portrait, more of a crowd scene. IMHO the biggest challenge will be arranging the group attractively and getting good expressions in one shot (photoshop is your friend ). Move back, if you have to shoot wide, don't position anybody too close to the edge or the lens will pull them out of shape.

You will not win any prizes for fancy lighting no matter what - the objective is to simply get decent light on everybody. I would use the SB600 on-camera bounced straight up to the (hopefully white) ceiling with a small DIY bounce card for a dash of front fill-in, full power. Push the ISO to get an f/number for sufficient DoF. Check that here http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html If you can get a Lencarta Smartflash in time, go for it. I'd just use it from the back of the room with a shoot-through brolley that will spread the light wide and fill the room well, at about standing head height.

Check the venue to avoid unpleasant surprises and take some test shots. They are obviously going to a lot of trouble getting the whole family together and will probably have no idea of the problems, thinking along the lines of 'Lee's got a good camera, it will be brilliant'

 

[JonathanRyan]

i've done some groups with 2-3 speedlights with some success.
what's the ambient light going to be like?
I've found that if it's poor then the speedlights will create a lot of shadows.

More lights = more shadows

SB600 at full power will just about give f/11 ISO 200 at 10 feet. If you can move it to 20 and shoot ISO 800 then you can shoot at f8 and half power (give or take - I'm bound not to have carried the 1 somewhere). Decent batteries and you'll get 10 frames off in 30 seconds.

I can clearly remember getting stitched up by a hostile venue coordinator into shooting 50 people with one speedlight and a fisheye on a chair in a TINY room. And of course the client wanted it DPS. Took a little post......

 

[tommo]

I will try to visit before and get some test shots. What is the light spread like width wise at 10ft? I will see if the ceiling is white if I get chance to visit.
Thanks for all the advice much appreciated.