Dramatic and dynamic lighting for group photos

This group photo appeared as part of a sequence of images, for a story on the CEO for a financial magazine. The group photo was a composite of a number of photos of the individuals. For a first attempt though, I took a safe shot first of the group with two Profoto B1 flashes bounced into the hallways behind me (photo shown below) … but it kinda looked dull in comparison to the final collage image which the client much more preferred.

For this collage / composite photo, I had my assistant light each person individually with a Profoto A2 and small Profoto Clic softbox (on a monopod), and then blended them together as layers in Photoshop. You can see my assistant holding the light up on a monopod in the BTS compilation photo. (Click through to see a larger photo.) Everyone was told NOT to move for 2 minutes.

I had my Sony A1 (B&H / Amazon) on a very firm tripod. The huge file size (50 mpx) of the Sony A1 actually makes the editing easier since there is more info to work with.

The camera settings were f/8 @ 400 ISO @ 1/30th. The slow shutter speed was to allow the background light to still show.

Here is the comparison photo, not used, where I bounced two Profoto B1 flashes into the hallway behind me. This gave soft lighting, and without massive reflections in the glass panels behind the group that umbrellas or softboxes would have given. But … it is bland. The photo at the top, while more work in post-production, just looks so much more dynamic and interesting.