How many people can you light with one light?

[Jess]

I have the new Photoflex Starflash 650ws lite dome (softbox) on order, and haven't actually started taking any pics yet with studio lights, but am already getting requests to do family pics. Can I get four people covered adequately; two adults, two kids? I am not going to have a second light available, but will have a lg reflector. Can I get anymore than four? Thanks a bunch. Jess

[Jess]

anybody with experience on this?

[jfrancho]

It really depends on distance of light from subject and whether it's the primary light source or for fill, but I'd say you should be able work with it.

[Jess]

ok, that's good. My neice wants holiday pics done, and there are four in her family. The softbox is 24x36, and yes it's the primary light, with a reflector too.

[fantasiesimage]

is this one of the screw in a light bulb jokes??

[Jess]

Not at all, and why would you ask that. I made it very clear what I was asking up above. I said I haven't taken pics with studio lights yet, and didn't know how many people could be effectively lit by one light. Do you have an answer without being smart?

[jfrancho]

Originally Posted by A.D.D.GWC

is this one of the screw in a light bulb jokes??

No, it isn't: http://www.photoflex.com/Photoflex_P...650/index.html

[Jess]

Thanks J- I appreciate your answers to my questions!

[Benji]

Jess,

You might want to use an on camera flash (softened) as your fill light and use the starfish as your main. REMEMBER to feather it so the center of the light is pointed toward the person farthest from the light. Meter each face. There should not be more than 2/10s of a stop between nay two faces. If so feather the light some more.

Benji

[Jess]

thanks Benji. it's going to be early Dec before the next batch of starflash lights are shipped. I'm bummed.

[snjphoto]

Jess - Take a gander at this page.

http://www.swpp.co.uk/professional_i..._portraits.htm

One of the things that rand with me when reading it was how to make the relative size of the light source larger. You could use a single strobe, presumeably unshrowded through a large diffuser panel to make the relative size much larger. You would lose some lighting power, but you can easily bump the ISO and remeter in most cases. It might be a fun experiment to see your results with a single softbox and maybe something a bit bigger, twin bed size sheet for diffusion, or sunbounce type panel with the white diffuser attached.

Scott

[jgoeden]

Originally Posted by snjphoto

You would lose some lighting power, but you can easily bump the ISO and remeter in most cases.

But depending on the camera or type of film, you risk noise and loss of sharpness.* Just a compromise you have to take into consideration and decide.

[Jess]

Thanks Scott, I bookmarked that to go back to, and also for the additional articals at the end that were linked.

[snjphoto]

Good point jgoeden - its all a trade.


Jess - Let me know how you like those Starflash lights. I was consdering them recently, but couldn't get them in time for what I needed. I like the build quality of them, and if they pickup some market share I may end up with a couple someday. Hope they serve you well.

Scott

[Jess]

Scott, I didn't update this, but I ended up with two photogenic lights instead. I cancelled this order, because they coudln't guarantee a ship date, and I really wanted to get two lights. I have two other threads going on this forum, that people are offering suggestions on, if you want to read them. These are the three top active ones.