I think all people were shot in a single frame on location and not as a composite.

Big Guy:
Light source cam left not to high. Because he appears evenly lit with soft light head to foot I’d say large light source, softbox or octabox. Looks like he has a bit of fill to his let side, so maybe a reflector bouncing fill light back into his face.

Lady standing:
Appears to have a harder light source on her than the big guy. Light source high camera right, possible beauty dish. She does have light on her right side as well, this could be from one of the other key light sources lighting one of the other people causing additional fill.

Lady sitting and man.
Have same type of soft light on them as big guy, so large softbox or octabox on them cam left. The mans right hand is in shadow whereas his left hand is bright, so the lady appears to be putting a shadow on his right hand which indicates a light source camera left.

Light from softbox lighting big guy providing secondary fill for the other three people.

They all have good separation and are backlit by a single light source positioned some distance behind the big guy under the tree, and there is light spill hitting the underneath of the branches from that light. Possible bare bulb or wide angle reflector used.

As ever I’m probably a million miles away but look forward to seeing the setup as its not an easy one to dissect.

Okay here goes!

I think all the portrait images were shot as individual images in the studio against a plain backdrop and later added to the background image.

Lady on log- sat on a chair or stool,then later placed on the log.
Lighting = 3 lights as follows. Beauty dish above front, on same axis as camera, Key light high 45 degree angle to left of camera, fill light same angle but to right of subject.

Man in black = 2 lights, as follows. Beauty dish above aimed downwards face on position to subject, same axis as camera. Additional strip light 45 degree angle to right .

Lady in red = 3 lights. Key light to camera right, 45degree angle and high, additional rim light behind to provide highlight in the hair, fill light camera left 45 degree behind a flat, and at a reduced power to the key light.

Man in kilt – 2 lights. Key light 45 degree angle camera left, and high. Additional light camera right at 30 degree angle to camera position and a strip light as opposed to a box.

Background shot of tree and log , daylight shot, with light at mid day. Then reduced exposure in PS and tinted. Blacks enhanced and vignette added.

People ‘dropped’ in later and shadows from original images used/ partially masked, and additional shadows created in PS.

Probably way off – but worth a go!
Dave

I’d say 2 strobes, one behind the front guy (maybe on a branch), pointing upwards to the tree, that is also giving hair light to the blonde woman on the right.

And the other one on camera left, with a difusor, pointed towards the frame on a diagonal vector.

thanks!

All composited into forest scene. misty/cloudy layer added on top and then vignette the whole thing.

Deano

ok i have 2 suggestions,

1 – i think this shot looks very much like a composite and the lighting looks different on each. Id say a softbox on the front large guy on the left and a second light on the right to lighten the shadows.
On the woman in red stood up i think its the same but the other way round.
On the couple to the rear id guess with just one softbox more frontal.

2 – is if all shot together, id have a guess with 2 softbox’s. One to the large guys left. Picking up his side and the couple to the rear, and one to the stood up females right side?

Cool image and look forward to the write up as usual Glyn :0)