Need advice on how to pose

[charlie_merrifi]

so my mother in-law wants me to do a picture of her the 4 grand kids (ages 7, 5, 5 months and 4 months0 and her two dogs. i have no idea how to even begin posing all of them together, or having them all looking the same direction at the same time. Please help.

[archie]

take a look at this informative link-
http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/16516-rules-good-portraiture.html

[PhotosGuy]

mother in-law... and her two dogs. http://photo.klein-jensen.dk/smilies/rotfl2.gif You're a braver guy than I am, & I wouldn't touch that job with your ten foot pole!
So the first thing I suggest is to eliminate all lighting problems:
Angeline outdoors (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=483975)

Be prepared for extremely short attention spans with everything going downhill from there, so...
1. Scout the location before you get them together. Take a few shots of it to be sure that you haven't missed something.
2. Use a tripod so that you can look at everyone in the shot while you're shooting.
3. Shoot a burst of every shot so you can clone out the closed eyes that will occur in the best shot.
4. Have someone hold the babies & dogs.
5. Take a few shots to get everyone comfortable with the camera. It doesn't matter if they're good or not. When everything looks OK, use a secret weapon like a whistle to get everyones attention & pray that the burst of shots gets one usable image.

[nuffi]

Alos, it might pay to make it a day out at a photegenic location, like a picnic at the park or something. Means you can get a shoot in before lunch and one in after lunch.

If you make the one after lunch before dessert, you have something you can use to bribe the kidlets with. :-)

[charlie_merrifi]

it will definatley be a challenge. Cant hold the dogs being they are 120 pounds a piece