# Very nervous and would appreciate advice from a Pro Photographer



## Chris_M (Nov 12, 2011)

Hi, this will take an explaination of circumstance,
but I would really appreciate the advice of a professional photographer on this,
so please bear with me on this somewhat long post.

*[The background story]*
I did a voluntary shoot on reconstruction of a local church, the project ran over a year and a half,
and the contact person was impressed with the photos, which are not yet processed,
(final selections have yet to be made before processing begins, Lightrooms flagging option helped a lot on selections so far).

Based on these results, I have been asked to be the official photographer for the re-opening ceremony.
There will be an Archbishop present, along with several higher ranking church officials, and of course the local clergy and congregation.

This is to be my *first ever PAID* job, and as I get closer to the date (Sunday 20th Nov.),
due the scale of it all, and the fact that I am scared of messing it up, I am getting rather nervous.

Now, taking candids before, and photos during the mass without a flash shouldn't be a problem for me,
Lightrooms noise reduction has produced some pretty good results so far when I used high ISO (3200 & 6400).
High ISO will probably what I use during the mass part in order to get decent shutter speeds,
as I have been asked, if possible, not to use flash during the mass.

What *is* making me very nervous, is I have been asked to shoot some official group portraits after the mass.

*[The Kit]*
I own a Canon EOS 500D and a 100D, a Sekonic Flash Master L-358,
2 starter light kits: a 3-piece studio flash kit @ 300ws, and a 2-piece hot light kit,
a large (180cm) reflector and a small 32" reflector, and various other small bits 'n' bobs.

I would prefer to use the studio flash kit, as I have shot a couple of portraits before using that kit (3 different sessions actually),
and it has softboxes which I would prefer to use for the portraits.

The hot light kit is daylight rated, I only have silver or gold reflective umbrellas that I can use on these,
the softboxes from the studio kit will not fit on the hot light heads.

*[The Problem]*
Whilst checking my kit today, I found that the receiever for the studio flash trigger is, *at best* unreliable.
In fact, it's so far gone, I am going to bin it and get a new one.

However, I do not have the time or resources to get a new one before Sunday,
and if the enquiries I sent out on the phone this afternoon do not bring me the loan of a remote trigger,
*I will be forced* to fall back on the hot light setup to do the portraits.

And that is my problem, I have never done portraits with:

a hot light setup,
 only 2 lights and
only silver or gold umbrellas or raw spots.

The group portraits I have been asked to do will be groups of 6 to 8 people,
at this time it is unknown if I will have a background, or just be using the wall behind the subjects,
as I do not own a white background, and the only other slightly suitable background I have is a cloud effect one.

*[What I would very, very much appreciate the advice on]*
Given the importance of the situation, the kit I have, and my amateur/hobby photographer status,
how would I best go about setting up and shooting the group portraits using the hot light kit?


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## Replytoken (Nov 13, 2011)

Chris,

Can you shoot the portraits outside of the church?

--Ken


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## Chris_M (Nov 13, 2011)

Ken, I suggested that as well, but he said they would prefer to shoot inside unless there's no other choice.


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## edgley (Nov 15, 2011)

Far from pro here, but I got roped into shooting a friends wedding; some things are meant to stay a hobby.

I had the same number of lights as you, mine where a cheapish set off eBay. They where not enough to quite fill the area for the group shots.
Thank Adobe for PS.

I wish you good luck with this.


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## sizzlingbadger (Nov 15, 2011)

Call a shop and get them to send you a receiver in the post next-day delivery. You must have time to make a short phone call ??


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## Chris_M (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks edgley, I might need it.
Btw. eBay is where I got both my starter light sets also.



sizzlingbadger said:


> Call a shop and get them to send you a receiver in the post next-day delivery. You must have time to make a short phone call ??


Unfortunately, I do have the time, but not the money they are looking for locally (here in Ireland).
After a round of internet searches, followed by a few calls,  the cheapest one I could find,
_a single channel reciever only for use on studio flash heads_, was 46 Euro, postage would have been another 6 Euro.
I am unemployed, and can't afford that kind of money for something I don't use THAT often.

Also, I can get a multi channel one on eBay to plug in to the flash head,
which ALSO allows me to use as a mount and remote trigger for my Speedlite 430EX,
for 25 - 30 Euro _*including*_ postage.
That I could afford at a push, but don't have time before the shoot to get a delivery from England.

If I cannot talk them into doing the portraits outside using the church as a backdrop,
I'll just go with the hotlights with the silver umbrellas.

I'm thinking about 2-3 meters back from the subjects, a 45 degree angle on either side,
1 light a bit over head height, the other at about shoulder height.
Can anyone say if that sounds about right?


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## Chris_M (Nov 15, 2011)

Oooo, no sooner than I hit the Submit button on that last post, this occured to me:

The Studio Flash with the reciever is triggered by that reciever,
but the other two are triggered by the flash from the first one.

So could I use the Speedlite to trigger all of them?
If so, how?
If so, how do I stop the flash from the Speedlite influencing the Studio Flashes?


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## sizzlingbadger (Nov 17, 2011)

Speedlights often use pre-flashes to calculate power etc and that can play havoc trying to set off other lights at the right time. I think testing will be the only way to be sure.


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## Chris_M (Nov 27, 2011)

Well, it seems the whole panic deal was redundant, since on the day, nobody but the choir wanted to stay behind for group portraits,
which also means I wasted a whole half Saturday setting up, testing, measuring, testing some more, then drawing a lighting diagram, oh well *shrugs*...

Still, I did the job, and am now sitting here processing the photos, which leads me to post a somewhat related question in the workflow section.


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 27, 2011)

That's never a waste - you learned all sorts of technicalities from it, and next time you need to do it, you won't be as nervous.


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## RikkFlohr (Nov 27, 2011)

Agree totally! No waste. It was probably better than doing it to learn it as you had a real-world example to puzzle out. You spent your time well.


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## Chris_M (Nov 27, 2011)

Weeeeelll, if you put it that way, I guess it wasn't a waste.


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## Replytoken (Nov 28, 2011)

You showed up, prepared, as requested!  I applaud people who act professionally in any given situation.  I have had similar experiences, but that sometimes seems to be the nature of the business. I do not suffer fools gladly, so I tend to watch how businesses and professionals treat their customers for future reference.  You may not have got the shot that you hoped and planned for, but hopefully people noticed how you handled the situation.  Rarely do we get a second chance to make a good first imperssion - volunteer, amateur, pro bono professional or otherwise.

--Ken


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## Chris_M (Nov 28, 2011)

Thanks Ken.

I never really had a doubt that I could handle the flashless "during" photography,
and Lightroom is nicely recovering the tungsten yellow tint on them, but luckily, I got to know the area rather well,
and I know where to get a good sopt to usk the white balance picker.

It was indeed the portraits I was suppposed to do after that had me worried,
never having done group portraits (only 3 or 4 one-person portrait sessions amongst friends and family),
and on top of that never having done any kind of portrait with the hot lights...

But I guess I'll get to that sooner or later, hopefully later at the moment, as I am currently in a full-time day course,
Web Design with Dreamweaver CS5, at whos end I hope to be officially Adobe Dreamweaver Certified (ACA).
Then maybe I can get a job with that...











...yeah, and a snowball in hell won't melt either!


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