Lighting Without Lighting Equipment

My wife and I were asked to shoot the annual portrait for a family of about 20 people. We are reluctant to get into sourcing the light for such a large group of people and are heavily leaning toward natural light somewhere in the outdoors. Given an open-ended assignment like this, what would you do for lighting such a large group? Open shade in a park somewhere? If the weather doesn't cooperate, what would be a good backup plan? I was thinking of a pavilion, but that could be pretty dark if it's a very rainy day.

Also, from what I know, a simple fill flash would help expose faces, but what kind of power would we need for this size group? I'm thinking that a 320EX is too weak to even have an effect.

I would try shooting that in open shade. That is a ton of people to try and light with flashes. I did it a while back, but that was using two speedlights with large umbrellas in a white walled room. I still had a tough time with it. If you are looking for something to assist in lighting in the shade, you could get a huge reflector. I just purchased this one for a family shoot outside in a couple weeks. I actually just used it for a white background on a headshot yesterday...works pretty well! If weather doesn't cooperate, I would see about rescheduling for another time then trying to find something indoors.

Thanks Jayson. So if I did use a large reflector, would it need to be elevated considerably? It would be hard for someone standing on the ground to hold it up in such a way that illuminates the entire group, wouldn't it?

You are correct on the height of the reflector, so maybe that wouldn't be feasible for this situation. I didn't really think of that at first. I would just try to get a nice day with plenty of open shade and you should be fine.

In a quick search, I found these two threads, which are helpful.

http://photo.net/portraits-and-fashi...y-forum/00WaBm

http://photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00HFkS

Seeing the family portrait question in another thread reminded me about this. I'll give it one more bump to see if there is any more advice.

For this, open shade is a great suggestion. Otherwise, an on-camera flash for fill is certainly a good idea (although for that size of a group, you'd need something more powerful than the flash you mentioned).

What would you recommend Sean? I know you've probably got two of whatever it is I need. Maybe I'll just swing by your house and do a little shopping. Do you charge out of state tax?

Run down to Home Depot, Lowes or your local building supply store and grab some foil-backed (reclective) insulation board. Something like this: http://www.specjm.com/products/foamb...mSheathing.asp

Not saying that exact brand is especially good; just whatever is carried by your local building supply store.

These have the dual attraction of being:
1.) Dirt cheap, at under 10 bucks a piece, and
2.) ENORMOUS, at a standard 4' x 8' size.

They are not $75.00 to $100.00 and up, as a collapsible reflector of that size would cost. You could get 2 sheets for next to nothing, then trash them, or keep them. If you cut them in half, then duct-tape them back together like a book, they can stand up on their own when just slightly folded, and then they store a lot easier folded up too.

Thanks Scott, that's an interesting idea. I'd still need to find a way to elevate it, but that's a problem with a regular collapsible reflector too.