AT THE BRIDES REQUEST....HELP...

I sat down with the bride who's wedding i'm shooting next month to get her impressions, requests and go over the schedule and the photos I would like to do.. I asked her for a list of all the folks she wanted for her formal shots and asked her about special requests.. She had a few, the first she wants a picture of her fiance and two year old niece dancing.. apparently there nuts about eachother.. The second, she has ten nieces and nephews (I have there ages written down but they start at four months, by the wedding, and go up to fourteen).. anyway, she wants a group shot with all of them. the last, She wants a group shot. Of every person at her wedding.. Between eighty and a hundred people.. Yeah, okay.. so, I feel confident that the first request no problem I would have done it without her asking, the second I have an assistant sure we can pull something together.. But, a hundred people? Allrighty folks.. you see, where i'm from Brides get to have anything they want, so i'm not saying no too much trouble, too hard... So, if y'all have any shots I can use as a starting off place to get an idea of how to pull this one off or just advice please post it here.. I'll even bake ya cookies.. I make great coconut cookies.. or, you can have chocolate chip... or banana bread...or a pie.. okay, i'll bake ya whatever the heck you want just help me pull off a group shot of a hundred people...

sari

Sari - key is to get some height. If you can't find a balcony or something bring a ladder and get above the crowd. Have them look up at you and close down your aperture to get good DOF.

I completely agree. I have never shot a large group photo like that, but all the ones I've seen have been shot from above with everyone facing you. Good luck! I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off.

Just ask Tim about this... I've seen where he photographs a large group at a wedding. They are standing in a heart shape on green grass, and he is sureley on a ladder or a roof top or balcony or something.... The heart shape makes a nice slide for the show and it includes everyone on her list... Send Tim a PM and I bet he can direct you to his post where the photo is shown. You might like it.

You could tape off the grass to indicate where they should stand.

Good luck!! : )

At my wedding we had about 200 - 300 at the church, the pro used a fisheye lens and stood on about 5 steps higher than every one else. It was a excellent nice photo.

You can have the bride and groom looking at you in one photo, kissing in another etc...

Got a 24 or 28mm lens and a tripod?

yeah....

Sari,
This is quite easy, just get up high and use a wide angle - not too wide to distort the people but maybe 17mm? And also use either a lens with f/4-5.6 or just stick with something like that for DOF.
I have shot a wedding of about 230 guests (Guests came that werent invited as it was a small town - just about the whole town was there just to see it lol) SO the B&G asked me to get a group shot...i had the celebrant tell them where to stand etc. and i just told them "Wave at me" as i was standing on top of a "Stage"
Worked out well - sun was in the way but i made do!
Good Luck!

Del

thanks for the ideas.. getting above folks is going to prove a little tricky, the location doesn't have two stories, but she wants a group shot.. So, I'm thinking my uncle's ladder... I think it was the initial, 'you want what?'.. that made me a little nervous, a little thought and a couple of ideas and I feel a bit better about it..

sari

You'll be FINE! The ladder will work well, as long as you take safety precautions first and get someone to hold the bottom!

Get up as high as you can, and use as long a lens as you can. ie if you can get up one story you might get to use a 30mm lens which is great, if you can only get a few steps up and use a 12mm lens that's ok but you'll get some distortion. Try to avoid flash, the relative distances between the closest person and furtherest person means it's not so good, but a bit of fill flash will bring the bride and groom out. Do this photo RIGHT after the ceremony, before everyone wanders off. After a ceremony there's always 5-15 minutes of general milling about, don't try and cut that short, just roll with what happens but don't let anyone escape!

Don't sweat it, it's easy stuff

One thing that works well for me is enlisting the aid of either the DJ or the band leader at the reception. I'll usually introduce myself to them shortly after arriving at the reception; very helpful for getting a copy of the agenda, evening plans, timing of events like cake cutting, garter/bouquet toss...

I always carry a short ladder with me on jobs. For large groups it's either the ladder, a stair case or balcony for my vantage point when I'm doing a group. Once I'm in position the DJ will make an announcement and direct everybody's attention to my vantage point. Then I take over direction of the crowd and give instructions.

The shots work out pretty well this way and most of the time nobody regards it as a bother. - Stu

i think getting everyone together would be quite a task....

saravrose, basically it's like this
height,
wide angle,
prayer! and cocunut cookies to rdking01....yea

I get this request all of the time. Like everyone said, look for elevation and shoot with the widest lens you can.

None of these will win any awards for exposure (most of them are from very early weddings - you can tell by the lenses )

From a church balcony (Tamron 28-75):