A Family of 19!!

[BCurrey]

I'm shooting for a family...well, actually several families, but they want a couple group shots. In all, there will be 19 people. Of the 19, probably 6-8 of them are kids

I normally shoot with a 28-75mm lens, and a 550ex flash. I also have a Alienbee AB400 strobe that I thought about taking, if there's an outlet close by to plug in to. (I've been thinking of buying a Vagabond, maybe this is a good chance for me to??) I'll be doing all the pictures on the family farm.

Anyone have some examples of posing this many people?

Also, do you think the flashes I hve will offer enough of a fill flash for the large group shots? Will my 28mm be wide enough to capture everyone?

The indivdual shots and the smaller family shots, I'm not very worried about. Its the big group shot that has me worried.

I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments.

[Icediamond]

depending on how everyone is arranged, a wide angle lens is good (16-20mm is ideal).. your 28mm on ur lens might be good enough if you have a FF camera.. if not, you might want to set up the family accordingly. Use a tripod, shoot at around f/8, so everyone is in focus.
As well, will this be shot indoors or out? outdoors, depending on lighting and angle of sun, etc.. use flash as a fill-light.

[adblink]

I shot a family this size and mostly used a 12-24mm which worked nicely.

Due to the amount of people, "levels" really came in handy. By levels I mean we used this big rock garden and had people at different heights, some sitting, some one leg up on a rock etc etc. Worked out quite nicely. It was my first time shooting anything like this so trust me i was nervous as hell

[Mark1]

For a second I thought you got hired by that family in Texas. They have like 16 kids. The mom basically has been pregnant for 20 years. As soon as one is out they start on another.

[opus13]

sounds like a good opportunity to practice a toogy.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=361101&highlight=group+shot

[René Damkot]

depending on how everyone is arranged, a wide angle lens is good (16-20mm is ideal).. your 28mm on ur lens might be good enough if you have a FF camera..

If there's space, I'd rather move back and use a longer lens.... about 24 on crop, about 40 on FF.
I assisted in making this image. (http://www.wila.nl/page.aspx?l=GB&id1=70)
IIRC it was a Leaf Aptus 75, on a Hasselblad with 50mm lens. So that would translate to "slightly wide".

Better perspective.

On the arringing of people: Agree on the "levels". Also: Build "triangles", so no head is behind the other.
Bring something for you to stand on: a high viewpoint might work better. (Depending on BG).

[adblink]

lol ya but that image has like 3-4x the amount of people in it!

[René Damkot]

try about 8 times... IIRC it's about 150 people.
What I meant to show was that "big group" doesn't necessarily mean "wide lens" ;)

[BCurrey]

Thanks for everyone's responses! I appreciate it!