jerryfergusonphotography
Groomsmen Group Photo
Groomsmen Group Photo from a recent wedding.
Update: I don't make explore that often, so I'm grateful for all the favs and comments on this image. Thanks!
Blog Post: Groomsmen Group Photo
Lighting:
- AlienBee B1600 at 1/8 power into large softbox high and just camera-right.
- LumoPro LP160 - bare - at 1/16 power directly behind group, low.
A bit more info about my thoughts on lighting this one -
I was pushing it on my shutter speed, which if you notice my exif data, was set at 1/400 sec. The 'official' maximum flash sync speed on the 7D is 1/250 sec, but I've been lucky in that my particular camera will sync up to 1/320 with just the tiniest vignette at the bottom of the frame. This means that at 1/400 sec, the flash wasn't covering the bottom 1/8th or so of the frame, and I did loose some of the 'starburst' shadows cast by the flash behind them at the bottom of the frame.
Also note that I don't own the nifty new drool-worthy PocketWizards that can 'hypersync' to give you another stop or so at full flash output power.
I could've dropped my shutter speed to 1/250 but that would've required me to stop down even more than f6.3 to compensate, which I just didn't want to do because (1)I didn't want my depth of field to be too deep (which it ended up being anyway), and (2) I didn't want to have to crank up my flash output power even more, this being at the beginning of a long day of shooting where I really needed to conserve battery power and keep the recycle times low to keep the group shots flowing quickly. Compromises - boo.
If money were no option, I'd just slap 8 or 9 580ex II's (or SB900's if I were McNally) on some stands, all synced up with the new PocketWizards at super high-speed sync, open up wide, and not care about my shutter speed.
Or I'd use one of those nifty Singh-Ray ND filters to drop the ambient down to something I could manage at f2.8, and just crank my flashes up to the max to compensate.
But as it stands, I've found a cheap, happy medium by shooting raw at 1/320 sec or 1/400 sec, and opening up as wide as I can while not clipping the sky, then bringing my true vision to life in post. And when I look at the frame, it's probably best that I shot at f6.3 to get all of the Groomsmen in focus.
Groomsmen Group Photo
Groomsmen Group Photo from a recent wedding.
Update: I don't make explore that often, so I'm grateful for all the favs and comments on this image. Thanks!
Blog Post: Groomsmen Group Photo
Lighting:
- AlienBee B1600 at 1/8 power into large softbox high and just camera-right.
- LumoPro LP160 - bare - at 1/16 power directly behind group, low.
A bit more info about my thoughts on lighting this one -
I was pushing it on my shutter speed, which if you notice my exif data, was set at 1/400 sec. The 'official' maximum flash sync speed on the 7D is 1/250 sec, but I've been lucky in that my particular camera will sync up to 1/320 with just the tiniest vignette at the bottom of the frame. This means that at 1/400 sec, the flash wasn't covering the bottom 1/8th or so of the frame, and I did loose some of the 'starburst' shadows cast by the flash behind them at the bottom of the frame.
Also note that I don't own the nifty new drool-worthy PocketWizards that can 'hypersync' to give you another stop or so at full flash output power.
I could've dropped my shutter speed to 1/250 but that would've required me to stop down even more than f6.3 to compensate, which I just didn't want to do because (1)I didn't want my depth of field to be too deep (which it ended up being anyway), and (2) I didn't want to have to crank up my flash output power even more, this being at the beginning of a long day of shooting where I really needed to conserve battery power and keep the recycle times low to keep the group shots flowing quickly. Compromises - boo.
If money were no option, I'd just slap 8 or 9 580ex II's (or SB900's if I were McNally) on some stands, all synced up with the new PocketWizards at super high-speed sync, open up wide, and not care about my shutter speed.
Or I'd use one of those nifty Singh-Ray ND filters to drop the ambient down to something I could manage at f2.8, and just crank my flashes up to the max to compensate.
But as it stands, I've found a cheap, happy medium by shooting raw at 1/320 sec or 1/400 sec, and opening up as wide as I can while not clipping the sky, then bringing my true vision to life in post. And when I look at the frame, it's probably best that I shot at f6.3 to get all of the Groomsmen in focus.