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<blockquote data-quote="ohkphoto" data-source="post: 10958" data-attributes="member: 1573">As promised, a result of my Xmas photo shoot --fortunately the &quot;group was 15 not 25 and they were my friends ( so I couldn't go too wrong there!)&nbsp;I used 2 SB-900's, one was off camera to the left with diffuser, the second was on my D2X as a master flash with a lumiquest 20-80 (or 80-20!!) attachment. I placed 2 additional (manual) flash units operated by optical slaves behind the subjects. Lens was 20mm f/2.8. shot at 1/80 at f/9&nbsp;So, here's what I learned:1. Don't depend on window/natural light --be prepared to provide your own &quot;light&quot; --most were 2 hrs late so it was dark --even though I was ready with natural light at 3:00 PM.2. Forget the &quot;eye-level&quot; rule when shooting groups in a house full of ornaments, plants, etc. --too many opportunities for &quot;things&quot; to stick out of heads. I used a stepladder to shoot from a slightly higher angle.3. Bring plenty of batteries --I ended up doing group shots of everybody's little &quot;groups&quot;, with family members doing the &quot;over the shoulder shooting&quot;. Their flashes set off my optical slave flashes and they didn't recharge fast enough for my shots . . .sigh . . . learned to wait a little. Also, make sure you set your speedlight channel to something other than &quot;1&quot; --everybody had a nikon and not only did they set off the opical ones but my off-camera sb-900. &nbsp;I was truly impressed with the way the sb-900's operated in sync with each other and the camera. I could have used one more. the CLS is truly amazing and really worth the effort to learn.&nbsp;Hope this helps anybody else who wants to venture into group photos --for me it's always a challenge not only from the compositional and technical aspect, but to get something that's not &quot;cheesy&quot; but sincerely joyous!&nbsp;[ATTACH]1080[/ATTACH]&nbsp;Best Regards</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ohkphoto, post: 10958, member: 1573"] As promised, a result of my Xmas photo shoot --fortunately the "group was 15 not 25 and they were my friends ( so I couldn't go too wrong there!) I used 2 SB-900's, one was off camera to the left with diffuser, the second was on my D2X as a master flash with a lumiquest 20-80 (or 80-20!!) attachment. I placed 2 additional (manual) flash units operated by optical slaves behind the subjects. Lens was 20mm f/2.8. shot at 1/80 at f/9 So, here's what I learned: 1. Don't depend on window/natural light --be prepared to provide your own "light" --most were 2 hrs late so it was dark --even though I was ready with natural light at 3:00 PM. 2. Forget the "eye-level" rule when shooting groups in a house full of ornaments, plants, etc. --too many opportunities for "things" to stick out of heads. I used a stepladder to shoot from a slightly higher angle. 3. Bring plenty of batteries --I ended up doing group shots of everybody's little "groups", with family members doing the "over the shoulder shooting". Their flashes set off my optical slave flashes and they didn't recharge fast enough for my shots . . .sigh . . . learned to wait a little. Also, make sure you set your speedlight channel to something other than "1" --everybody had a nikon and not only did they set off the opical ones but my off-camera sb-900. I was truly impressed with the way the sb-900's operated in sync with each other and the camera. I could have used one more. the CLS is truly amazing and really worth the effort to learn. Hope this helps anybody else who wants to venture into group photos --for me it's always a challenge not only from the compositional and technical aspect, but to get something that's not "cheesy" but sincerely joyous! [ATTACH]1080._xfImport[/ATTACH] Best Regards [/QUOTE]

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