?? Portrait of 500+ group on Capital steps

Hi. I may be shooting a group on the steps of the Capital (washington, dc). I'm documenting an event and they are throwing this in the mix in the middle of the day. It will probably be late afternoon and roughly put together. I will have very little time. I've never shot a large group. I'm not sure about lens and settings. I'm not sure about lighting either. I'm not going to have an assistant, but can ask the coordinator for help. I want there to be sharpness, but am not sure whether that is possible. Right now I'm thinking ladder and megaphone. Flash on camera and ? It will be a mixed race group. Any help would be appreciated since I will have to make this happen in little time.

I used to do similar shots of school groups on the steps of a state capitol building. Although never quite as large as 500. You are right in that you will need a megaphone to communicate, but with a group that large you can almost discount the thought that you will have their singular attention. A ladder is nice, but if you can get even higher with a bucket lift that would be better. Forget lighting this thing, you would need a ton of lights to get coverage. 50 people wide by 10 rows deep? That would require 4 studio strobes and some serious setup time. I would suggest you go with available light, as much depth of field as you can squeeze out of the light you have. If you can get your hands on a medium format camera that would be a major plus as with a group that large heads turn into furry dots.

he could go panorama on this and shoot several shots and stitch

you're right about the light. don't have a md. format camera, maybe i'll rent a film one to keep costs down...

What is your end use of this shot?

they haven't said; i need to find out. i'm thinking nothing larger than 8x10

Then just get on a ladder and shoot. At that size clarity isnt much of an issue as the faces will be too small to recognize individually. Its more about documentation and thats not as "quality critical".