Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I'm a semi-professional and get asked to shoot individual and team portraits for various cheer teams. The team shots include up to 36 people. For the individual shots, I usually shoot on a seamless white background, full body. Currently my set up is 2 AB800s plus some lights for the background. For the individual shots, I use small shoot through white umbrellas for my main and fill lights. It works ok but I get a lot of spill. For the group shots, I bounce off of 2 48" umbrella reflectors from behind me. Full power, that barely gives me enough to light the whole group at f11, 400ISO.

I'm looking for a better solution for both setups. Would I be well served getting a couple 64" PLMs and using them for both? Or should I use a 30"x60" softbox/36" octobox combo for individual shots and use PLMs for the group shots, possibly with front diffusers?

Would love to hear your suggestions. Thanks in advance.

First, you say you are shooting on white, but get too much spill. Are you going for a full white BG? If so, spill should not matter too much, unless you are getting flare, which can be flagged.

What color are your umbrellas for the team images (white or silver)?

A pair of 64" PLM's with diffusers would make an excellent set up for this type of work, though it may or may not be significantly different than your current set up. Unless you need to grid the light, I do not see the softboxes being any more beneficial than the PLMs.

The bounce umbrellas are white (black back)

The soft silver PLM will definitely give you a higher output.

I would definitely suggest the 64" SS PLM with front fabrics. Mix and match as needed.

Thanks for the valuable input. One last question - do you recommend the speedring or the umbrella mount?

The speed rings are to help focus the light better than the shaft that runs a little offset from the flash tube. This is more important with the extreme silver, so you should be OK with the 8mm version.

Even though Tech Support works for me, and does a great job here, I have to disagree.

Use the 64" SS PLMs without the diffusers and you will get way more output, much less spill and the same shadow formation, and easier setup.

I totally agree with Paul. I should clarify, my intent was to recommend purchasing the 64" SS PLM's and the fabrics, as there are time you will need the PLM's with and without the diffusors. For the group shots, you will definitely want to use them without the fabrics.

I apologize for any confusion.