Lighting large groups with small lights

Cistron

Cistron

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Mike
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Hello folks,

I wanted to tap into the wisdom that floats around here.

Below is a group shot for an MSc class. Conditions weren't good. Instead of 20ish, 47 people turned up, the ceiling was low, the room was small and I only have three SB-80dx.

Key light was a white shoot-through umbrella, as high as possible camera right, aimed at the left side of the group (you can see the shadow throw on the floor). Fill was a bare flash, aimed at the right side of the group. And very obvious in the uncropped image, there is a separation light behind the group (which would have made more sense with less people).

I left the camera on a tripod so I could paste faces, eyes or expressions from one frame to another, which I inadvertently had to do. I like real smiles, so I behave like a monkey and get them to crack. Ambient was dialled in so that the window would show.

What would you have done differently?

edit: removed photo
 
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Lighting wise, one gun directly behind me, one left behind , one right behind, all bounced off the ceiling (flagged front of flash to ensure all light was bounced).

Flat as a pancake lighting is what you want for such groups, not 'lovely key with fill at 1/3' etc.

Edit - skip the one directly behind, two would have been more than enough and definitely would have skipped the separation light. Might have used the third on cam to low fill a little sparkle into the shadows.
 
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