Critque my lighting please

[NicoleScraps]

So my current goal in photography is to master flash and reflecting/bouncing.
This was taken solely for practice. I am sure you can see what I did here. Pointed the speedlite to the right and reflected it back. I used a big white reflector. From right to left in the photo gets darker. I am not sure how to fix that when dealing with a group. When I did similar shots with only one person, it was not a problem. maybe the key is in posing correctly to make sure everyone gets light? Or maybe I should have pointed the flash straight backwards and bounced it full on everyone? I don't know. What do you think?
I do think that we should have scooted forward a bit away from the tree. And I should have put on my good lens instead of using my kit 18-55, but I had the kids attention for just a minute and wanted to experiment.




Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Fired (430 ex ii speedlite, on auto, full power)

[edbayani]

there's a big difference in lighting one person and a group. in a group there is a possibility of another person to cover another, creating shadows as what happened in your practice shot. maybe you should have put another reflector on the left to prevent the degrading of the lone light on the right and made the father sit on a pillow to make him higher to avoid the shadow of the girl in plaid. just an observation.

[zona5101]

Did i see in one of your other posts that your new B. A. reflector is a 5in1? If so the inner most reflector is translucent. You can use that like a big old soft box. You would position that more at the camera position rather than the side. Alternatively you can bounce your flash off a wall and use the B.A. reflector to push some of that light back into the group from the other side....

[NicoleScraps]

Yep, my BA reflector has the diffuser in the middle. So are you saying that I should try pointing the flash forward and holding that in front of the flash? I can try that.

maybe you should have put another reflector on the left to prevent the degrading of the lone light on the right

Seems like my best bet right now might be to get a 2nd reflector as well. Maybe a smaller one. Not quite as BA.
I sat my hubby down and did a bunch of experimental shots. Pointed the flash right at him with no diffusion.
Then I did one to the side like this. Then I pointed it backwards and put the reflector behind the camera.
It is amazing to compare the differences like that.
I really think I need a stand, some triggers and either a softbox or an umbrella.
Thanks!

[zona5101]

So besides being a "reflector" you can use your reflector

a) as a large bounce surface (like you did with the large piece of cardboard in the pics of your kids in a previous post).

b) a softbox (at least the large front surface of a soft box). Typically we use the translucent center of the 5in1 to even out lighting like spotty or bright outdoor light. But you can shoot your flash into it as well and produce a light source as large as the surface. The only caveat is to ensure you have the strobe firing into the diffuser and not spilling over - really not that tough to trial and error. You'll want to get the light out as far to the edges as you can without it shooting over. Now you can have the diffuser/flash in front of your subjects like a huge softbox...or you can put the diffuser/flash behind and create a "one light" hi key background (you would need additional lighting for your main light).

[cdavis]

If your ceiling is white and you only have one flash, firing upwards towards the ceiling with a difusser would have delivered better results.