im an advanced amateur shooting a family portrait shoot tomorrow, i have done senior portraits and solo photo shoots and helped out with weddings, but never took full control of group shots alone before- anyhow, main question is i have in posession a 580ex and a 430ex speedlite for my canon 30D. I know how to use the speedlite alone, however i have no experience with using the 430 as a slave.

From what i "think/know" you should put the flash somewhere behind the group to eliminate background shadows, but playing around with it i find the background to be over exposed or giving a halo effect as though the subject is an angel..

suggestions and pointers please? the shoot is tomorrow so anything would be helpful. Thanks, and any quick facts about posing people in groups, i know to have weight on back leg, dont face square forward..

did you dial down the exposure on the backlight? are you bouncing it off the back wall/ceiling/side wall? how large is the group? you don't necessarily have to seperate them from the background, you could use both strobes up front.

<a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/05/on-assignment-two-speedlight-group-shot.html">this</a> should be exactly what you're looking for.