Shooting groups

[vfilby]

This is something that seems pretty simple, but I am going to ask anyways. Are there any tips, tricks or other things I should know about shooting medium-smallish groups (maybe 10-20 people)?

[robertwgross]

If you try to line up the entire group into a single line, it looks pretty bad.

If you line up the entire group into a front line and a rear line, it can be better, but you need to get the rear line close to the front line. If the rear line is too far back, then you can begin having depth of field problems.

For a larger group, three lines is possible also, but it is just harder to get right in depth of field.

Depth of field problems tend to be worse with a wide open lens, and that tends to happen in flash photography when the subject distance is long. Moving up closer and using a wide angle lens will help that somewhat.

---Bob Gross---

[awagner]

And I have heard of arranging people so that the wider ones (!) are at the extremeties and the skinier ones in the middle (or was that the other way around ; anybody can confirm that?)

[Ken Fong]

I've read that you should get a step ladder and shoot from a higher perspective, shooting down towards the subjects. The goal is to align the focal plane with the subjects' heads (assuming you have 2 or more rows of subjects).

As for flash, don't mess with portrait setup (main and fill light)...just use a bracket or right off the camera and aim the flash's hotspot just over the subjects' heads to 'feather' the group.

[Jon]

And I have heard of arranging people so that the wider ones (!) are at the extremeties and the skinier ones in the middle (or was that the other way around ; anybody can confirm that?)

'Tother way round - the people at the edges will appear to spread more.

Sort 'em by height (at least roughly), and use any available sloping/slanting surfaces to get the rear line's heads above the front's. If you can also get up above them, it'll make things a lot easier. You really need to work at getting them to move around so no-one manages to hide their face (fully or partially) behind someone else, so tripod's even more essential than usual here. If you're shooting outside (for that matter, inside a "busy" room), look out for stray background elements when choosing where to group them. If possible, I prefer to work outside in open shade.

[vfilby]

Thank you for all your tips!

I must say this, posed photography is still something that I need to work on.. a lot! Candid and PJ are where I feel most comfortable. However, I will learn as time goes on, right?

So it ended up being ok. Even though it looked like rain it didn't and I had a nice overcast sky, the worlds largest softbox. My biggest problem was choosing the location. I assumed they would have a banner where they would want the group photo, but as it turned out they didn't and didn'tt know where they wanted the photo. So I took a few inside with horrible lighting and all white shirts on a white background (I was too worried about everything else to think of that!). The outside shots turned out really well.

So I guess this is the first step on my journey to learn posed portraiture. Any help would be welcome if you feel the need to add more points.

Thanks again,