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Category: Informative Topics on Photographing People

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Ideas For Shooting a Large Family Group


I have to shoot a family of twenty people, nine adults and eleven children. It will be outside in a yard, shaded by trees. I would like some ideas for posing possibilities. Any help would be appreciated. Also I am in search of a wide angle lens to go with this shoot for my Minolta Maxxum, any ideas on which one I should go with?


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July 09, 2003

 

Jeff S. Kennedy
  As for posing, try to get people on different levels. Use chairs or benches to seat some. Think about building triangles with faces. If you can keep people on a similar plane it will help with focussing. With a long line of people you want to form it so that they form an arc. IOW, the end people are a bit closer to you than the middle people. If you have to "stack" people it helps to shoot from a higher vantage point so that you can get the film plane more parallel to the people's faces. This helps get everyone in focus.

As for the lens, I would avoid a wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses cause distortion at the edges and the people on the ends might not appreciate the way they end up looking. Use a lens in the normal to short telephoto length. Something like a 50mm up to an 85mm depending upon how much room you have.


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July 11, 2003

 

Maryann Ianniello
  Dept of Field is very important when shooting large groups. You need to have everyone in focus. So its important to use a fstop of 16 or 22. As far as wide angle I would not even consider this lens. I would go with the response from Jeff K.


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July 15, 2003

 

Debby A. Tabb
  GOOD DAY,
I POSTED A SET OF PORTRAITS DEPICTING A LARGE FAMILY GROUP (19?) AND THE APPROVAL SET OF ONE MEMBERS FAMILY . IN HOPES THAT IT WILL HELP, OTHER SEE HOW TO BREAK UP A FAMILY.
WITH THE APPROVAL SET- YOU PROVIDE THE CLIENT WITH A MORE DETAILED AND INTIMATE LOOK AT THE FAMILY.
AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING IN PHOTOGRAPHY, IT GIVES YOU MORE TO SELL.
BEST OF LUCK,
DEBBY


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May 18, 2005

 

John Rhodes
  I still get a laugh out of reading something like, " I am going to shoot an entire family..." OK; now to be serious--

Sarah, there is an excellent article in
April 2004 Shutterbug magazine on photographing large groups outdoors. Read the article on-line at the following address:

http://www.shutterbug.net/features/0404sb_howto/

Good luck.
John


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May 18, 2005

 
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