Shooting a group of women. Need some advice.

Hi All,

I have a shoot coming up and my question really has nothing to do with how to shoot it but rather about color selection for some chairs being used.

The shoot is as follows:

4 generations of women in a family. 2 grandmothers, the mom, the daughter and a cousin. We're going to do 2 rows with the 2 grandmothers sitting in the front row. Everyone will be wearing a white dress with sleeves.

So what would be the best color for the chairs? Do I go neutral? White to match the clothing? Or something darker to contrast it?

Something darker, for sure...

Just wing one of the women. The others will stop to help her and then it's like fish in a barrel...

BillMarks wrote in post #5929270
Just wing one of the women. The others will stop to help her and then it's like fish in a barrel...

Damn it, you stole what I was going to say.

Any helpful tips?

You want the chairs to not be seen unless looking for them, yet not blend in with the women. Go for something dark and neutral (assuming a dark background), perhaps a wood chair with a dark fabric on the seat.

Of course you could also do stools and completely hide them, then it won't matter.

Bench draped casually with a mid-tone colored neutral throw to hide the bench itself

hbdragon88 wrote in post #5929827
Damn it, you stole what I was going to say.

Sick minds think alike!

Robert,

I vote for the dark chairs. If white, they would have to match the white dresses perfectly, or they'll show up as "just a little off." Dark chairs will virtually disappear, even if parts of them show.

Be sure to use good diffuse lighting with all that white. Avoid a "shot in the dark" (after all, you've already done that).

TMR Design wrote in post #5928973
Hi All,

I have a shoot coming up and my question really has nothing to do with how to shoot it but rather about color selection for some chairs being used.

The shoot is as follows:

4 generations of women in a family. 2 grandmothers, the mom, the daughter and a cousin. We're going to do 2 rows with the 2 grandmothers sitting in the front row. Everyone will be wearing a white dress with sleeves.

So what would be the best color for the chairs? Do I go neutral? White to match the clothing? Or something darker to contrast it?

Use the arms of the chairs and the chairs and build a pyramid. Look like you have 5 if my counts right. Move the chairs a little farther apart and use the other inside arm of the chair so instead of just one sitting on the inside to the group arm you have one on each.

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Heres what I did with the larger group. But I always try to use the arms of chairs also.

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Thank you for all the replies. I'm pretty sure that the 2 grandmothers will be sitting in the front row and the mom, daughter and cousin standing behind them.

I'm not sure if the chairs will have arms or not but I do like the idea of draping fabric over the chairs or a bench. The client will be providing the chairs so I'll be coordinating this with her.

Hey airfrog,

How are you typically lighting your group shots?

This was a tough shoot, I had no time and limited space (the usual) So it was just one light with an umbrella just over my right shoulder and a background light. I wish I could have used two lights but got a good enough spread with the one light. I had no room. This is in a hall way.

Normally a large group it would be two lights and a b/g light.

How big was your umbrella on that group?