What’s Your Preference?

mandyatm · #1 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 03:22 PM

I will be doing my first beach session this weekend and wanted some advice on my plans for lighting. We plan to do them in the morning when the sun is rising over the water (Gulf Coast) and the water will be behind them. I do not have an external flash but I DO have a strobe with a battery pack. It is a Photogenic 320. I plan to use this with a 32" umbrella to light the family of 4. Will this be enough if I use a 32" reflector? I can also take my background stand and use my white background as a larger reflector...I want to get this right so any advice is welcome!

i speak in math · #2 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 04:04 PM

A 36" umbrella is too small to properly light a single person, IMO, so its definitely too small for a family of 4. It will put out enough light, sure, but its won't be soft and diffused. The light source is simply too small. The reflector is just as small, and as such, won't give you soft light. It will bring light to the shadows. If you are shooting at sunrise when the light is nice and warm, I would have a CTO gel, or 1/2 CTO gel on the strobe to balance the colors. Likewise, I would use the silver/gold side of the reflector. The silver side won't add color cast but might give that warm look you want at that time. The gold side would.

mandyatm · #3 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 04:25 PM

Thank you, I was afraid of that. I use that size umbrella in my small home studio with no problems - is it too small because I want softer light outside? Should I get a bigger umbrella and what size? And will my white muslin work better as a reflector or should I get a bigger one of those too?

zona5101 · #4 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 04:27 PM

Can you shoot through your white background? And if so, does your flash have enough ump to shoot through it when it's placed back a few feet?

As Eric suggests, gelling the light will be an important consideration.

Benji · #5 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 04:27 PM

Will the sun also be behind them? If so it will provide a nice background and hair light but it moves pretty fast so you will need to shoot quickly. If it is off to one side of them it may create problems with streaks of light on their bodies and faces that will look terrible, so I suggest posing them so it does not illuminate any skin or clothing, even if you have to pose them to where there is no water behind them. (You may be able to Photoshop in some water for a background.)

Lighting. I think you can use a reflector at this time of the morning as the sun is not real brilliant so the reflection will not blind them (but then again it may, so I would find out BEFORE trying it on a paying client.) If it is windy forget attempting to use the whiet seamless as a reflector unless you have two assistants to hold it down. If you use flash you will need to balance the ambient light to the flash. The shutter speed will control the ambient light and the aperture will control the flash. I wouldn't worry about attempting to balance the color temperature of the flash to the sunshine with gels, as you need to shoot quickly. You can later balance the light using Photoshop back in the computer room where you will have lots of time. The 32 inch umbrella MAY work if you use it up close then clone it out of the final image. When I know a light will be in the shot, I shoot an "extra" image with the light NOT in the scene so I have a clean file to use in removing the light in the others.

Benji

mandyatm · #6 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 04:47 PM

Thank you for all the suggestions. Luckily this is not a paying client, it is an old friend and I am not charging a session fee. I have a lot of maternity and baby pics but not a lot of family stuff, so I am trying to boost my portfolio in that area. I do still want to do my best though.

I can try to shoot through my background but I have never tried that before. The light is 320 watts. I do want to shoot with the sun rising behind them for at least some of the pictures. The background I was planning to use is a white muslin (cloth) backdrop, I would put it on the backdrop stand and put sandbags on it to hold it down or duct tape it to the stand or something.

So what is a good speed to shoot at to balance the light? There will be two small children so I was planning on sticking to 1/125. Is that too fast?

Also, I have not used a CTO gel before. If I decide to get one, how exactly do you use it?

zona5101 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 07:46 PM

The gel would be taped to front of the reflector of the light.
Shoot through your background first and see if you are even getting enough light through it to make it worth the effort. At 320 w/s it will need to be at full power and probably only give you 10 maybe 15 feet of light but you really need to test it first because the thickness of your muslin will make a big difference.

So be sure and read and understand what Benji wrote. He is very knowledgeable and I have found his advice in understanding and solving lighting situations to be very beneficial.

mandyatm · #8 (**permalink**) 04-11-2010, 02:13 AM

Okay, so this evening I took my muslin background outside at sunset (the beach pictures will be at sunrise, but it is the same idea), and set up my strobe to shoot through it. It seems to have plenty of power and got plenty of light to them. In some of them though, the flash was too strong and the background too dark. What is a good speed to make sure the ambient light is balanced with the flash? How far away should I place the sheet from the subjects, and how far should the light be from the sheet?

This shoot is tomorrow morning so any quick advice would be so helpful! Thank you!

zona5101 · #9 (**permalink**) 04-11-2010, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mandyatm

Okay, so this evening I took my muslin background outside at sunset (the beach pictures will be at sunrise, but it is the same idea), and set up my strobe to shoot through it. It seems to have plenty of power and got plenty of light to them. In some of them though, the flash was too strong and the background too dark. What is a good speed to make sure the ambient light is balanced with the flash? How far away should I place the sheet from the subjects, and how far should the light be from the sheet?

This shoot is tomorrow morning so any quick advice would be so helpful! Thank you!

You'll want the light a couple of feet from the material...far enough that it fills most of the sheet with light. Your going to want the sheet maybe 7-10' from the subject - that should give you enough light and a decent fstop. Background too dark you'll want to slow the shutter speed down to let in more light. If it starts to get too slow, you'll need a tripod.. even then can't get too slow because people will move. Good luck.