Group Portrait Help.

[starscream59]

As it is the holiday weekend, my neighbor asked me to take some pictures of their family. I've never really taken many group portraits, so it's unfamiliar territory. I feel like the picture is bland and boring , I'm not sure how to really improve it much. I've taken it into Lightroom for some basic edits but I'm not sure where to go from there. So basically any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tirediron]

I'm not really sure that there's too much more you can do. As far as this type of images, it's not too bad; you can see all the faces, everyone's looking at the camera. What might have helped, were you able to, would have been to get some fill light into the exposure, and brighten up everyone's eyes.

 

[bratkinson]

I generally consider group shots more as 'documentary' than 'creative works'. With that in mind, it's hard to get any real 'pop' in those kinds of photos unless, for example, there is some special person (like the bride and groom in a wedding party shot) or some uniquely identifiable environment such as a group shot with Mickey Mouse in the picture at Disneyworld. In my opinion, the location of a group shot more or less determines the 'snap' to the picture, and you get what you get. In the shot posted, you did quite well in not having a distracting background. Too often in my photography, I forget to check what's in the background and end up Photoshopping various details out of the picture.

Now, some photographers may want to 'juice up' the picture in post processing with increased processing. There are a variety of presets in various photo editing software packages such as Lightroom that can add special effects to the picture. Some may prefer more contrasty-looking shots, or over saturated colors. That's not my style, but on a limited basis, it could be interesting.

For me, getting a good group shot is more about getting a shot with everyone looking at you, eyes open, all faces visible and hopefully, smiles on every face. I don't know how many pictures you took of the 12 people before you got one with everything except a couple of missing smiles. In my limited group-shot experience, I think I'd take perhaps 12-15 shots of the group of 12 just to ensure that I get one meeting most of the requirements I listed. If you got the shot you posted taking only 3 or 4, you got really lucky.

Not every shot turns out **W**I**N**N**E**R**. Nor can they be post-processed to be that way. Sometimes one has to settle for getting all the 'details' close enough to get a good enough picture that's acceptable to all.