20 people in ohe shot

[Espie]

What is the best way to pose 20 people to get them in one great group shot?

[Leighow]

Well other members will have a lot more to say about group photos than !. Even so, I will give you my 10 cents worth, since a few weeks ago I took about 8 such shots at a different locations:

GROUPING:
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I think you have to decide wheether you are looking for a formal mood or informal as that may affect whether you seat some, and what they are wearing, etc. Whatever you do, you will want to take about 4 shots of each pose and look carefully at the image in PS. You may find that someone has closed an eye, etc. I one case found that I had to crop one person's head from one shot and place it onto another... all to improve that one person's appearance.

FORMAL vs CANDID
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I shoot both formal and candid and let someone pick what they like best. It is easy to get everyone to look at the birdie. But some will be caught in a frozen stare and look stiff and posed.

On the other hand you can get people to chat a bit, and take a shot on the fly. In this case someone is bound to have been caught blinking, but in general more people will look natural. Even so, someone will not be satisfied and so be sure to get the "formal" pose.


LIGHTING
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Flash vs natural light.

If you are comfortable with your camera, go for the natural/available light and plan to "fix" in PS. Give some attention to glare on glasses. I shot ASA 400 hand held with the G2 drawing on available indoor icandescent light. I was quite pleased with some Medium-Superfine shots -- but wished that I had set out with RAW or Large-Superfine to avoid grain on marginal shots.

One of my shots was indoors under poor light and I was asked to shoot from a balcony down on the smiling throng. Happily the G2 flash could handle the situation and PS could touch up although in this case, I wish that I had used a tripod and a slower exposure.

On several somewhat related shots I held the camera over my head to minimize red eye. In those shots I was including ten people seated at a table. The G2 flash was active and I stepped back a few feet to try to not blind those in the foreground at the expense of those in the background. Such shots required attention in PS.


Hope this helps a bit.

HOWIE

[stoneylonesome]

One other option is to shot them in panorama mode and then stitch. You should be able to pose them and get them in just 2 pano shots.