How can I light a group more evenly with flash when people are at different distances?
Asked 3/13/2018
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I often shoot small group photos in dim places like bars using a DSLR and flash. The flash is strong enough, but people closer to the camera end up much brighter than people farther back. I’d like more even lighting across the group without making everyone stand the same distance from the camera. I can use an off-camera flash, a bracket, or possibly a second flash on a tripod. What setup or technique helps reduce this brightness difference?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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Lighting a large group "evenly" with flash requires a powerful flash placed far enough away that the distance between closest and furthest subject is a small fraction of the distance from the flash to the closest subject. Consider the diagram Where A is the light source and B-E are subjects:
A----BCDEF
The distance A->B is 4. The distance from B->F is also 4. The inverse square law means that the amount of light from A->F is 1/4 the amount of light from A->B. Or two stops.
A----------BCDEF
Increase the distance from A->B to 10 and the falloff from B->F will be one stop. (10/14 is approximately square root of 1/2).
A----------------------------------------BCDEF
Back the light source way up where A->B is 40 and the falloff from B->F is about 1/4 stop. While ISO and aperture can help a little, mostly it is a matter of increasing power at the source or sources and/or decreasing the distance between closest and furthest subject. Even illumination is one reason big studio strobes exist. When recreating the sun, standing further back and shooting with a longer telephoto lens will increase depth of field at wide apertures.
Originally by user72932. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user72932
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The main issue is the inverse square law: flash brightness drops quickly with distance, so people closer to the flash get much more light than people farther away.
To make group lighting more even:
- Move the flash farther from the group. The farther the light is, the smaller the relative distance difference between front and back rows, so falloff is reduced.
- Use off-camera flash if possible rather than on-camera direct flash.
- Feather the light: aim the flash toward the farthest person so the nearer people are lit more by the edge of the beam, which helps balance exposure.
- Bounce the flash off a ceiling or nearby surface if available. This effectively increases the light path and can reduce the brightness difference between near and far subjects.
A flash bracket alone won’t solve the problem much if the light is still close to the subjects. A second flash can help, but the key is still placement and distance. In general, one powerful flash placed farther away and feathered well, or bounced, will give more even results than a direct flash close to the camera.
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