90th birthday and family shot

I'll be flying back home next week to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. I think if the planets alight just right that all her 7 children will be there too, which given the geographical distance, hasn't happened for ~ 15-20 years. Definite photo op that will live on for generations as it will probably be the last one with them all together (no pressure right). I'm sure there will be tonnes of point and shoot cameras there but I'll be taking my gear with me and would like to get a decent shot.

The party is being held in a hotel meeting/conference room, so lighting will probably be crap and the ceiling will be low. Outside might work but it will probably be very hot, so I'll have to set up and then have everyone get into position.

None of my aunties or uncles are known to enjoy being in front of the camera, so that's going to be fun. Do any of you have any good posing suggestions for a matriarch shot with multiple people (I'm hoping we can 'borrow' a chair from the hotel as my grandma can't stand for long). Also, I will be cramming my flash gear in too so I'll have my 430, a 43" umbrella, my 5 in 1 reflector, my tripod (aka light stand), and Cybersyncs. I'll also have multiple people to hold things if needed. Any suggestions on lighting this thing with that sort of setup indoors and/or outdoors. Unfortunately this will be a lunch event, so hopefully I can find a shady spot or something outside.

Sorry for the long post. I just really want to get this right...and I'm kinda hopped up on cough medicine at the moment...weeee

Laz...couple of suggestions based on my experience with the same issue.

Watch the width...too easy to be too wide. You can usually get 3 rows of adults and a sitting/foreground of "kids". That's 1 row sitting, short people in front of tall people in 3rd row. Makes lighting easier also.

Remember to leave enuff "blank" margin on the sides for framing.

Watch out for unintentional background distractions.

Don't shoot this with a table in the foreground...they are usually messy and tends to spread out the people.

Shoot multiple frames and be prepared to composite...Always someone with closed eyes...funny expression..looking away from the camera.

Watch out for hidden faces...you got to space them out so the camera see's them..if they can't see you, then the camera isn't going to see them.

Shoot with a high f stop...you need more dof to get everyone in focus. But remember, granny's the main subject! Probably f8 or greater for 3 rows.

Depending on your equipe, shoot at iso 400-800 to balance your exposure. I'd try to shoot at 1/125 to limit motion blur.

If you can get everyone in the middle of the room, it will help with the background "noise"...don't have them near a wall.

Sounds like you will have 4 generations there. Obvious shots are everyone, granny plus her kids, granny plus kid's kids, granny plus greatgrand kids. Then, time and temperament permitting, granny plus each kid with their kids and their kids.

Watch the side to side and front to back lighting.

It's going to take some organization and cooperation to pull this off well.

Good luck, Paul

Thanks for the suggestions Paul. There won't be too many of her grandkids there, so the multi generation shot is a no go. Will take the other things into consideration for grandma and kids shot though.

Definitely! I just got done with a 10 person shot of my family (mother, father, sister and her family, and my family and it took about 4-5 shots to get one really good one. It was good photoshop practice though as I hadn't worked that much with layer masks before.