Strobist Photography - Group Shot Against The Sun
Ahh yes, when clients insist on shooting in the afternoon under the blazing sun, you gotta do what you gotta do. In this case, the plan was to put the sun behind the subjects, and blast them with light.
For lighting, I had the Godox AD200, a fairly formidable light source, as well as a Godox TT685N. Unless you're Annie Leibovitz, group shots aren't so much about creating the most beautiful, dramatic light, as getting an even spread across the subjects, and against the afternoon sun during a heatwave, that requirement is even more pertinent.
The AD200 with beauty dish, illuminated them pretty well, from upper right of camera, but it meant going to full power, because the light had to be feathered for a more even spread across the group. The TT685N to the left, did an impressive job as fill light. Luckily, the makeup artist was on hand to do some reflecting, and boy, was I glad to have that. In fact, I have a new found respect for reflectors. They are extremely powerful when using them to fight the sun.
As you can see above, we did a handful of shots on the day, including one in the nearby forest, but I'm not crazy about the harsh, dappled light in the background. Notice also the quick n dirty "yellow brick road" photoshopped into the upper two images. I'm not a 3D compositor, but hopefully it is decent enough for a local panto group promo. Anyway, the main shot featured was my pick of the day.
I can't say I'll be in a hurry to light a group against the blazing sun again any time soon, but it's nice to know I can do it with the AD200.... Just about. I would have liked to darken the background a pinch more, but I was already at full power on the Godox. At that point, a faster shutter speed would only serve to darken the whole frame. Might just have to buy another AD200!
Nikon D750. Nikon 50mm 1.4G.
Godox AD200, TT685N, both in beauty dishes, 5 foot silver reflector.
ISO 100. 1/1000, F5
I love educational posts like this. How did you feather the light without a modeling lamp? Is it just from experience that you know how to position the beauty dish to feather it properly, or did you do a bit of trial and error to get it where you wanted it?
Brilliant question, and indeed it was trial and error, although I had a fair idea what angle would work. I've never used a strobe with a modeling lamp outside of a studio. I imagine it would need to be very powerful to be effective in such bright conditions.
Cool. Thanks for the reply. And you're right...with a modeling light, in full sun, you would probably not see the modeling light. I have not messed around with flashes in sunlight a whole lot yet. Here's one attempt I did. I think the strobe was 500ws or so, and firing at full power? I know it had the run of the mill parabolic reflector on it. In this case, the strobe is off to the camera right, and sun beating down from camera upper left. So the strobe is the key, and I used the sun as a fill. Like I said though...I have very little experience in these conditions. Something that I want to work on some more.
Also, this line from your post was really helpful for me:
Lighting is a very important part of the way of taking the images, just as the focus is and that most elements are the same or as uniform as possible. The first image is amazing, the blur in the background and everything very clear with reference to the models. Excellent and professional.
Cheers dude
Nice photography @condra, looks like you are a professional photographer. I like these types of pics and hope you will be posting in future also. Thanks...
Thanks man.
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