Large Family Portraits

[hopelaurenphotograph]

I have been asked to taken photos of a family of 9 adults. I have not worked with more than 4 people at a time. Any suggestions on posing or other things?

 

[Trever1t]

The main things to remember (and it's difficult) are to get everyone focused on your lens. Larger groups people always are chatting amongst themselves and there's always one person that blinks at just the right moment. The second thing is to have fun, be happy and get them laughing. Here are a couple of mine from one family shoot.




_POR8143 by Trever1t, on Flickr


_POR8172 by Trever1t, on Flickr

 

[KmH]

Multiple person poses based on triangle work well.

Make sure a shadow from one person's head doesn't fall on anothe person's face. One way to avoid that is yo have your light high enough.

Trver1t's second photo is a good example of both group lighting, and posing issues, like head shadows falling on faces because the light camera right was to far to the right and not high enough.

3 people in the back are just floating heads and 2 of them have head shadows on their faces.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Not very happy with the result. Kinda rushed it since it was snowing/raining. Plus shooting with 2 kids and 2 dogs in cold temperature was not fun. Just do your best putting people in the frame and say... If you cant see my lens, you wont be on the photo. That helps a little bit. Also, take several several shots in a row. You can photoshop one's head to another photo if you cant have everyone smile with eyes open on any frames. I say take at least 5 shots per pose with big group.

 

[imagemaker46]

The roof line looks a little crooked, but I think you did a great job on this, it's always tough working with kids in groups, and even tougher when you throw some animals into the mix.

 

[Robin Usagani]

It is a gazebo so it is a heptagon roof or something.