This saturday I have to shoot some formals and family stuff outdoors in the open! I know gonna be pretty dumb ... anyway one of the reasons is time constraints and the church lady won't let us shoot inside at all ... normally I don't have a problem shooting outdoor ceremonies but these will be large groups. etc.

I have 1 WL x800 (with soft-box if needed), 580's and vivitar's, all the PW's and ST-e2's; normally ooutdoors in this kind of light i'd shoot wide open AV with high speed synch or just use the harsh light to an advantage ...

open non-shade with the white sky and ocean as the backdrop I'm a little concerned;

so, do I insist on moving the location or shoot it where they want it -- it's a bluff overlooking the ocean on the church lawn that's about 2-3 miles from the beach -- so way up high too ...

any advice would be much appreciated ..

rm

you sound like you have all the tools already ...... I'm not sure what the issue is?

either expose for the sky in camera and then use your lights to bring up the subject, or like you say, use the harsh light, get a nice (overexposed) white bg and expose for the subjects........

I guess my concern is that the ambient light will be such crap that if the background is blown the subjects will look like crap too ... and yes I'm sure the reason they want this location is to showcase the location ... so if I expose for the background which will most likely be say f5.6 at 1/1000 or brighter I just wonder how I will light the subjects evenly, or if I'l have enough power ... it should be fun.

thanks for your help ..

if you have the pw's and a 580 you will be fine.

set your shutter to 1/200 and your aperture to expose the sky correctly (or at least where you want it to be) and then set your flash at (most likely) 1/2 power and then just move it closer and further from the subjects as you see fit.

I do all of my work with just the 1 flash unit (also a 580) and I have yet to find I haven't got 'enough power' for daytime outdoors shoots.

- a couple of 'kinda formal midday full sun clifftop flash shots'

Fantastic work Mr. New Zealand. That looks like a total solution for this post!