Trip With The In-Laws and Family

[Richard]

This weekend I am going to the mountains in North Carolina and renting a large cabin with my wife’s family. We will be taking a family photo with 10 people (8 adults, a 4 year old and a 2 year old) in it. We will be wearing black shirts and blue jeans. I don’t believe we will be taking the picture outside, the wind is expected to be 25mph and the temperature is around high 40s, partly cloudy. Any suggestions to get a good shot, I would like to take some photos in manual mode and want to make sure I choose the right shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc… I will take a few shots in auto just in case of course. I am very new to the SLR aspect and I have been reading a lot on the internet but just want to make sure I can take the pictures without spending an hour playing with the settings and asking the family to take 30 shots of the same pose. Mainly I would like suggestions on the settings, but I would also like some suggestions on posing ideas too. Here is the link to the cabin with some pictures of the exterior/interior http://www.vrbo.com/45397 . Any help is much appreciated.


Equipment
Nikon D40
Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Onboard Flash
Tripod

 

[JIP]

My first suggestion would be to take the picture outside but barring that that couch and stairwell look interesting. As far as settings go you need to take many shots as much as people may complain shoot away with so many people you will almost always het someone who is a blinker or looking away. Another thing would be to purchase a new flash if you only have the pop-up flash try not to use it for this situation because it will ruin your image get a SB600 and bounce the flash. And remember bracket bracket bracket.

 

[The_Traveler]

Use a tripod
Learn to read the histogram on your lcd
take lots of test pictures before you ask the people to get into place
group the people mentally before you place them.
shoot on raw (in case you have to manage exposure)
Bracket exposures with exposure compensation
take multiple shots