Need a lens for the 7D for large family portrait

Indoors on a crop with 10 people your best hope is the canon 17-55 f/2.8 is

IMO you'd be playing a risky game trying to get shallow dof in a home when a family group shot is concerned. Limited space on top of having a row or two of people in a small group will need some stopping down of a lens.

Many indoor photos of a group I'd see the environment as part of the details of the photo. However if it was a mother/or dad holding a child hugging etc you can try to land the shot using a 24L or 35L at f/1.4 using available light or bounced.

For outdoor photos I love using an 85 or 70-200 and distance myself from the family. This gives beautiful compression to the photo. This is where you can become a bokeh junkie or stop down to get the background properly exposed with a spit of fill flash.

Indoors I love the cheap simple 5 foot shoot through photoflex umbrella or my massive 6 foot softbox umbrellabox.

For indoors any 17-50 range zoom will work since you will require to stop down the lens to focus on everyone.

17mm Tilt shift.

you can blur out the background with photoshop, get a sharp in focus picture first.

Great news...they're willing to do the shoot outdoors, as the weather is supposed to be gorgeous here.

So to start the thread over again...what lens will be great for an OUTdoor photo shoot with 12 people; 4 children, 8 adults, sharp focus on the people, nice bokeh bgd.?

Thanks!

Jodi

drzenitram wrote in post #15011204
In order to blur out the background and take in a large amount of people you're either going to need a huge space behind the group, or you're going to need to use something in the telephoto range and be able to get pretty far back.

But, really, I'd go with something like a 35L and you'll probably be happy with the results. If you want to go the telephoto route, try an 85L and get back a bit.

Good luck!

(There's always the bernoulli effect if they're patient enough!)

If you have the space, go 85L. Get a really wide open space behind them and you'll have a blurred background. You'll need to be a ways back to get them all in the photo, though. Use a tripod!

You are doing it for free? Use the 50 1.4 at f1.4. As the poster above says, outdoors separate them from the background. Make sure your camera is level and perpendicular to the group so all are in focus. Strongly suggest tripod. Lowest ISO at Av setting. Fire away.

Indoors, should something happen like a rainstorm, use your existing zoom at 28mm. Stage your people in group with couch and fireplace. No real need to blur background as it is likely a sentimental family scene. If you are too tight. Use tripod and make a series of panning shots allowing flash to build up fully for each shot for even bounced illumination. Then stitch results.

You're shooting a lot of people, so be careful shooting any of these lenses at wide apertures . . . that's gonna leave you with a really thin depth of field, so there's a chance some of them won't be in focus. If you shoot outside, separate the background from the group, so you can get some nice background blur at more workable apertures. increasing your distance between you and your subjects will also increase your depth of field. my 2 cents

Yeah the 50 or an 85 F1.8 I would say the same shoot from F4 up to F8 or so to get that many people sharp!

For indoors you will definitely like the 10-22 with the 7D. But be aware that at 10mm the built in flash will leave a shadow on the picture. Shoot longer or do not use the flash. For outdoors there are all kinds of possibilities. Again just remember to watch your lighting. Shadows on faces can be problematic.

Mike

jodi73 wrote in post #15015458
So to start the thread over again...what lens will be great for an OUTdoor photo shoot with 12 people; 4 children, 8 adults, sharp focus on the people, nice bokeh bgd.?

Nobody expects a blurred background with a large group. You will have to use your head and plan a decent background that will look good if it is in focus. Just use the 28-135 at about f8 and go to the park in front of some flowerbeds or a nice gate or wall, etc.

If you really want to do the blurred background, you'll want to shoot like a 300mm lens and bring some flags or a megaphone to signal to the family when you are going to take the picture.

tkbslc wrote in post #15017089
Nobody expects a blurred background with a large group. You will have to use your head and plan a decent background that will look good if it is in focus. Just use the 28-135 at about f8 and go to the park in front of some flowerbeds or a nice gate or wall, etc.

If you really want to do the blurred background, you'll want to shoot like a 300mm lens and bring some flags or a megaphone to signal to the family when you are going to take the picture.

My 50th HS class reunion was done that way, except the photographer and her assistant used cell phones. He moved people around as she directed. Besides me, there was another photographer in the class and we both knew that the picture would be crap. Huge group set small in big back and foreground--you could not identify yourself in the print. Wrong camera, wrong lens, wrong concept. We could have cared less that the country club names spelled out in a flower bed was visible--we wanted memories of who was there.

This image is an outdoor shot. Some of the same people as my earlier example, but more of the family. That's me on the lower right in the chair and I'm not smiling because I was suspicious the remote control and I were not on the same page. Canon T4i, 18-135mm STM at 18mm. ISO 100, in open shade, no flash, f5.6 at 1/60s on tripod. I would have been better served at f8 as the comment above says.

Distortion is not too bad. Back row is soft, however. From the original file it makes a nice print. Everyone can see themselves and their smiles clearly. I worked hard to place everyone so there wouldn't be anyone hidden. Took two shots from behind the camera and two with the remote. They were all family, so I could yell at them if they didn't cooperate.