Help for Church Directory please

[PEC]

Hi everyone!

When I heard our church wanted to do a pictorial directory and wanted 10 "photographers" to line folks up on a wall and everyone shoot with whatever camera they have, I stepped up and volunteered to try and do a bit better than driver's license mug shots with red eyes.

Be aware, I am a noob regarding portraits

Here is what gear I have:
2 light stands
2 SB24
1 SB800
3 Pocket Wizards
1 shoot through umbrella
1 bounce umbrella
background stands with a white paper background
NO light meter

Here is what I am thinking (looking for corrections/suggestions):

1. light background with one of the sb24's gelled
2. meter on background to knock down overhead lights to not effect picture (I don't want any ambient light) this will tell me what iso/shutter speed/F-stop to use. Set iso / F-stop on all flashes and camera
3. set fill with shoot through umbrella, just over camera axis. set power to gently illuminate the subjects - still a tad dark
4. Set Key with bounce 45 degrees on camera right and up to ceiling (8 foot). Set power to provide just a bit of shadow.

Questions:
what about using a white sheet as a reflector and using one of the speedlights for a hairlight, although, that would take the fill to the camera left side?

what about putting a bit of white paper/sheet on the floor in front of the families to help with fill? although, I don't really want to light for low...

This will be run and gun - get as many people through as I can at a time. I am not looking at this to sell individual pictures but to get nice shots for the directory. If anyone wants "real" portraits, I can do another time.

Thank you in advance for any help!

[Dobick]

Please keep in mind that when people see a background (whether it is a wall or paper or whatever) they will immediately try to get close to it.

You will want to have something set up so that you can tell them where to stand or sit, that brings them some distance from the background.

If you have two cameras, set both of them up, one for individual head shots, and the other set up for family groups. This way, you can set up a one light shot using three reflector panels (one left and right, and one at chest height) for the indi's.

Should be easy to run and gun through a whole bunch of shots with minimal fuss and some great results.

[PEC]

Thanks, Kent

I will have seats for them to use appropriately spaced from the background.

I do have 2 cameras, not sure what you mean with the 3 reflector panels.
have 1 setup with 2 lights for families and another 1 light setup for individuals?

[kenw]

ditto: watch the proximity to the background. We run into this every time! I like the idea of planting something low to force them away a bit.

Even going quickly, we can't get it under 3-4 minutes per group/single with simple posing, eyes-closed on-Jr, twitches, sneezes, etc. The more in the group, the more time you need. Even singles we snagged 3-4 just to make sure. Folks often anticipated the flash and closed their eyes BEFORE the flash!!! I don't do a countdown for that very reason, plus it avoids the tense-up. Talk, laugh, joke, whatever you need to do to keep them loose....

And don't even think of having them select their preference then! YOU pick the best later and go with that.

If you have 2 cameras, have a shooter on each or you don't really gain much. We always do handheld, the inflexibility of a tripod wasn't worth the hassle of repositioning all the time.

Your helpers are absolutely key, someone needs to sign them in, etc. We used a small marker board with the family name showing in the 1st shot just to keep the record straight as the lineup sheet always got out of sync when using 2+ cameras. I would much rather have a single shooter + helper than 2 or more shooters and no helper.

[digidawg87]

There are companies that will shoot these and print out pictorial directory's at no cost to the church.

[PEC]

Originally Posted by digidawg87

There are companies that will shoot these and print out pictorial directory's at no cost to the church.

we have tried those in the past (olan mills and lifetouch) - poor experiences with both with a bit of strong sales techniques used...

also tough to keep it current as we have new members every month 2-3 more families.

we have a pdf membership directory we email out to the members. I could set up a short session each month for the newbies :)

[digidawg87]

I don't care for the strong arm sales either.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by PEC

we have tried those in the past (olan mills and lifetouch) - poor experiences with both with a bit of strong sales techniques used...

also tough to keep it current as we have new members every month 2-3 more families.

we have a pdf membership directory we email out to the members. I could set up a short session each month for the newbies :)

we did the Olan Mills approach once, but it was obsolete so fast that it was impractical. The PDF and web versions work best for us as well.

[Daniel W.]

I would try to keep this as minimally setup as possible, the two lights 45 degrees in umbrellas and just above eye level. Don't worry about the BG, if you angle the lights and shoot/compose accordingly, your main lights will illuminate the background, not to pure 255 white but that looks odd when printed / pub'd on white (like the figures are just floating on the page). The umbrellas will spill enough light to get it pretty even (just don't crank the umbrellas too high. Do test shots to make sure the lighting is even across the entire shooting area.

[Dobick]

Originally Posted by PEC

Thanks, Kent

I will have seats for them to use appropriately spaced from the background.

I do have 2 cameras, not sure what you mean with the 3 reflector panels.
have 1 setup with 2 lights for families and another 1 light setup for individuals?

what I mean for the reflector is similar to what David Tejada shows in this video.


but instead of the big soft box to the left, you can use another reflector angled to the light source and bounce both left and right, and as you can see he was using a white table to fill shadows under the chin and nose for some really soft light.

On second thought though, the method that Tejada uses does a really good job at eliminating the possibility of image glare on glasses -- which will most definitely be an issue with an aging population that you get with churches.

[PEC]

thanks for the link - i like using the portable dvd player - apparently much faster to display than a laptop and obviously, no software needed :)

I also like using a white table in front of them for fill :)

that method will work good for individuals...

[carrbowl]

Originally Posted by Daniel W.

I would try to keep this as minimally setup as possible, the two lights 45 degrees in umbrellas and just above eye level. Don't worry about the BG, if you angle the lights and shoot/compose accordingly, your main lights will illuminate the background, not to pure 255 white but that looks odd when printed / pub'd on white (like the figures are just floating on the page). The umbrellas will spill enough light to get it pretty even (just don't crank the umbrellas too high. Do test shots to make sure the lighting is even across the entire shooting area.

When our church used an unnamed company, I saw that alot of families were posed pretty good, but there were shadows in alot of places...even on faces.

If you place the lights at 45 on each side of the camera does this help with shadow? I'm sorry, but I'm one of those that has to see it to understand it!! I'm thinking the two lights have to be placed just right so the shadows aren't there? I would post a sample, but got slammed last time, so I can't.

[Photogdude]

Proper posing has just as much to do with shadow's as lighting, especially when it comes to family posing