BetterPhoto Member |
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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?
July 09, 2003
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
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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.
July 11, 2003
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Maryann Ianniello |
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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.
July 15, 2003
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Debby A. Tabb |
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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
May 18, 2005
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John Rhodes |
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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
May 18, 2005
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