mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

I'm planning to photograph a family of 5. There are not little children anymore---just two adults and three teenagers.

My question is about lighting. The shot will be taken indoors with low light. I have two remote flash units with two diffusing white umbrellas. I'm using a Canon 6D and most likely a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. I realize I have to shoot close to the 70mm end to avoid distortion, but my flash units will be in manual mode.

Do I setup the camera (exposure wise) for the ambient light in the room, then use the two flashes as fill, or should use manual on the camera and take a few practice shots to dial in the right exposure based on the flashes?

Obviously, I don't have a lot of experience with indoor people shots. I don't like the washed-out harsh flash look. Any tips or book references would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Mark

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

You are not taking a head shot of one person so don't worry too much abou shooting at 70mm. Get a model or two and practice at differant settings to see what works best. If you shoot in JPEG madke sure your color balance works out. If you use just your flash for light it should be OK I think that you will be ok bouncing your flash off your umbrellas. Make sure that you folks are far away from the ackground so you do not have shadows. Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Stupid) and you should do OK - Dave

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Thanks Dave... in terms of camera settings, I've realized that f/5.6 is not high enough for the DOF sharpness. I really need to shoot at f/8, wouldn't you say? Also, do I set my camera for high speed sync? My options are Auto, 1/180-1/60, or 1/180 fixed. Which would be best?

Keeping the family far away from the background in a small house won't be easy. I'm sure there will be a lot of distracting elements---especially at f/8. I'd love to move this shoot outside, but it will most likely be raining. Maybe if everyone had an umbrella, this could be an interesting and fun shot? Anyway... thanks for your time.

alissaspieces Loc: New York

Do you have a light meter to meter out the flash in manual? IF you do then you can meter the lights so it gives out f8 of light and set your camera to match. If you don't have a light meter then I suppose you can play around until you get it the way you want. You can use your shutter to adjust the amount of background/ambient light you want in the photo and the balance between the two.

You will not need to use high speed sync and you should not need to go above your sync speed (find out what that is). High speed sync is for when you are in very bright areas..like outside on a sunny day in the middle of the afternoon and you need a faster shutter speed above the sync speed because you need to get less light into your camera.

THe nice thing is that once you get it right then you can set it an forget it and take photos as long as you don't move the lighting and the location that the people are sitting/standing.

Remember..basically when you are in manual flash then the aperture controls the flash output and the shutter usually controls the ambient light. So if you want more ambient light in the photo then slow down your shutter speed but if you want a darker background then go with a faster shutter speed to cut down on the light coming in. You can also play with your iso if you need a little more light, but don't go to high.

Also good advice from Wilsond to adjust white balance. If you have some natural window light for ambient I would be sure to turn off the incandescent lights in the house (regular lights) or your flash and regular lights wont match. Your flash color temperature is close to daylight so you would be ok. And if you could do a custom white balance then that would be ideal. If you don't have a lot of ambient daylight from the windows and you are going to use incandescent lights as ambient then you may want to use a cto gel on your flash so you match your incandescent lights.

I hope that makes sense.

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

Would it be possible to remove distracting elements for the picture?
Could you perhaps seat them on a couch and hang white cloth behind them?

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Thanks for your reply... I have thought about purchasing a light meter, but I don't do many photo shoots like this, so it's hard for me to justify the cost. Regardless, I'm trying to understand how a light meter would help with my flash units in manual mode? Will the meter tell me how high to make the output for f/8 on my flashes? If I use the light meter in ambient light, won't the exposure be off once the flash goes off? Sorry... just a little confused on how to use a light meter with flashes.

So high speed sync is not necessary... should I leave my camera in "auto" then? Not sure I want to drag the shutter---if someone moves, won't I get motion blur if the shutter drops below the inverse of the focal length? I'd love to get some ambient light in there, but I also don't want to risk motion blur. I will, of course, have my camera on a tripod.

It seems obvious to me that I will need to fire off a few test shots to dial everything in. Just wondering if there is a good starting point? Since nobody can really anticipate the lighting conditions, this will be hard to answer. Again, thanks for being patient with me. Ultimately, I'm trying to minimize the time I spend setting up and taking practice shots. I'm sure I can eventually get it close, but I doubt I'll keep everyone's attention that long.

Also, I plan to use a WB grey card and correct the WB in post. Of course, I'll be shooting raw. Is it better to adjust WB in-camera? If so, why? Again, thanks!! You've helped me quite a bit actually. -Mark

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Hmm... not sure about a white cloth. Might be a possibility. I haven't been to the house yet, so I'm not sure what kind of distracting elements I'll find. I just know that if I shoot at f/8, I won't be able to blur much of the background. With my gear at f/8 standing about 10 feet away, it looks like about 5ft of DoF.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

The ole pose on the couch shot! How boring

Why not go up in the mountains to the evergreens and shoot in the wild.

What does this family like to do? What makes them unique - we all are - shoot in that setting.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Great idea! However, I didn't ask about setting... I'll save your response for next. Thanks.

Nightsky Loc: Augusta, GA USA

Mark,

With most modern incident light meters there is a setting that will measure the flash when it goes off. The meter just waits until it sees a flash then gives a reading. Any available light in the room will also be included in that reading.

If the flash is your primary light source then you can drag your shutter without worrying too much about motion blur. The duration of the flash, not the shutter speed, will freeze the action. Flash duration is generally much faster than your average shutter speed in a portrait situation.

If you are just using a pop of flash for fill then you would have to be concerned about it, but not with flash as the primary lighting.

Hope this helps

Bill

Bobby Deal Loc: Loveland Colorado

Wow someone has really been paying attention. I am impressed with that response.

alissaspieces Loc: New York

Thanks Bobby...I have imersed myself in my own "home school" of photography with excellent instructors such as yourself ;) ( and youtube, and some workshops and tons and tons of reading and lots and lots of practicing! ) ...BTW- Phew..glad I got that right! lol