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134 Part II ✦ Creating Great Photos with the Creative Lighting System
Table 6.6
Taking Group Portrait Pictures
Setup Practice Picture: Figure 6.18 is a promotional shot I did for the
Addictions, a local rock band from Austin, TX. We chose an
abandoned airport that was in the process of demolition and I
decided to take some shots of the group on a large pile of debris
with the desolate landscape as a backdrop.
On Your Own: You can use any number of friends or relatives to
achieve an effective group shot. Try to get practice in a variety of
locations and with a varying number of subjects in your shots.
Lighting Practice Picture: Because we didn’t have a lot of space where
we were standing and because we were so close, I opted to use
an SB-800 mounted on my camera’s hot shoe.
On Your Own: Depending on how large the group is and how
far away you need to be from your subjects, you may need to
use more than one Speedlight. For larger groups, you need more
coverage, and setting up two Speedlights on either side of you
is ideal.
Lens Practice Picture: Because of my close proximity to the band, I
needed to use a fairly wide-angle lens. I used the 18-70mm kit
lens that is supplied with the D70 and D200. The lens was set at
about 30mm.
On Your Own: Group portraits usually call for a semi wide-angle
or wide-angle lens to fit more people into the frame.
Camera Settings Practice Picture: The camera was set to aperture priority so I
could control the depth of field. The camera’s meter was set for
spot metering so that the SB-800 would be set to TTL no BL.
I did this in order to make the band stand out from the
background.
On Your Own: Use the Manual or Aperture Priority settings to be
able to set your aperture and control your depth of field. Matrix
metering enables you use TTL BL, while spot metering sets the
Speedlight to TTL, which meters only for the subject and results
in an overall brighter lighting pattern on your subject.
Exposure Practice Picture: 1/200 sec. at f/4.5, ISO 200
On Your Own: Use a lower ISO to reduce noise, and a wide
aperture for shallow depth of field. You can use a shutter speed
at or near the sync speed of your camera.
Accessories You may want to use an umbrella or diffuser to soften the light.
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