Correct way to photograph a group of people

I'm a newbie and sometimes run into difficulty keeping focus if more than one person is in the frame at different distances from the camera. I'm guessing that my aperature is too open causing a shallow DOF....but it is not noticable looking through the viewfinder. I was wondering if you all could relay some pointers on how to get good images in a group setting. Many thanks!

this might help. http://www.dofmaster.c​om/dofjs.html

For group shot, F4-5.6 is a good start if you are taking them head on.

Try to avoid diagonal lines where people are arranged obliquely away from you. If you really have to use F8 and above. To check dof, there is usually a dof button at the side of the camera lens mount. Pressing that will let you view in your ovf the actual dof you are getting.

Sweet spot for any lens is about F8. And anything that pushes F16 and above you may get diffraction problems. Sharpness will also start to degrade.

Assuming you are shooting in good light otherwise use a tripod.

If you are shooting in natural light, Lighting should ideally be in front of subject, above or 45 degrees to the side. Avoid harsh sunlight as that tends to make people squint.

If you are using a flash, try bouncing the flash onto white ceilings, above and slightly behind you if the subject is relatively close. Otherwise you may have tro project frontwards. Watch out for shadows under eye bags. Do balance your iso to get some background exposure balance. You'd want to aim for ambient exposure to be slightly darker than your subject. It also depends on what kind of results you want as sometimes people purposely blow out the background. Depending on the camera and flash that you own, you may have to bump up the flash output accordingly. Sometimes you may have to supplement outdoor shots with flash too. Here's where remote triggers and supplementary flash guns will help.

If your lens doesn't have enough dof, you may have to select the most important to be main subject. Focus on the closest eye. From what I found out, good light always increases dof and clarity. For instance, using flash seldom get me into trouble with lack of dof. I'm not really sure why.

Avoid unflattering angles. Always make your subject look good.

Hope these helps. Good shooting!

Define "group".

That's for the advice.....this should help going forward. My "group" definition is more than one person....but obviously can be 6-10 folks all posing for the camera (say at a family function). I've had mixed results as I shoot portraits with an open aperature. This is great for one subject, but can lead to problems if they are not in the same plane (hence my post).

Thanks again for the tips/link.

sosaysmorvant wrote in post #17513278
....but obviously can be 6-10 folks all posing for the camera.

the last group i shot was 35 or so, that's why i asked.

if you can't blast them with light and stop down, DOF calculator is your friend

As a follow up to the initial question, if you have a small group photo (say 2-5 people), is there a specific focus point to hit? I know concentrating on the near eye is a technique for individual shots.....but what about more than one person?

For more than one person, you want to be as close to the middle of the focus plane as you can. If they are in one line it doesn't matter- if they are staggered you want to go for someone in the middle of the group. Forget about eyes- find someone with a shirt that has the best contrast, and use it.

I do mostly event stuff where you get about 20sec to get the shot before the agenda moves on. I usually have my lens set as default to f5.6 and use a focus point off to one side as with multiple people you want to not focus on a dead point in the middle but actually on a person somewhere. This usually works for me. Here is an example of a small group at an event using the technique as described.

get them on the same focal plane if possible. This will benefit focus and perspective distortion.

back up as far as you can for best perspective distortion control and DOF. If you want specifics, fit a group of 5 into the frame with a 50mm lens, group of 2, you can use 85mm.

here's a group photo taken with a 135mm F2 @ F2. I drew a line in the dirt, had one of my kids stand on the line so I could setup focus and my tripod, then triggered from long distance.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/pYFv​Be

Cool. Thanks for the help.

Great shot Charlie!