Tips for taking a group photo

Dmariehill · May 25, 2016

So, we're having a family reunion in a couple of weeks. It's mainly getting everyone possible together for my grandparents who are in bad health. No clue if we'll get to do this again. We're going to take a family pic with everyone there. My current estimate is there will be 30 people there. We'll be happy with whatever we get, but I want to make it the best I possibly can.

The picture will be outside. I'm hoping to set it up in a shaded location rather than bright sun. It will not be in the golden hour.

So, the questions - which lens do you think will serve me best for this picture. Any tips for posing? Or any articles or links to sites with tips that you think are helpful for this situation? I don't think my flash is going to help me much. But my mil is nearby and has more equipment, so if there's something that would be helpful to have, I can see if she has it to borrow (she'll be there with me to use it, even though she's not this sideof the family).

Camera Base: Canon Rebel EOS t4i, or 5D (I'm most comfortable with the rebel)
Lens: 18-135 mm IS STM, 50mm 1.4, 85 mm 1.8. 70-200mm f4, 17-40mm f4 wide angle.
Flash: Speedlight 430 exii
I have a tripod and a wireless remote as well.
I have polarizing filters for most of the lens, and ND filter for a few.

Thanks for the help!

Designer · May 25, 2016

Dmariehill said:
Any tips for posing?

First of all; Good Luck!

Mark out a slight curve on the ground about equal to the arc of the DOF. Mark the camera position also. With a helper, measure the radius of the field of view using the camera position as the center. Using a wide angle lens to maximize the DOF, do your preliminary calculations (or use a mobile version on your smart phone) so you will know the DOF.

Arrange people in about three tiers (no more) short-to-tall and tell the adults to keep watching the camera, not the children. Nothing worse than getting all the children looking, and some adult is scolding a child.

Have the shortest people in front of the curve, mid-sized people on the curve, and the tallest people behind the curve (no pun here). Ask everyone to stand fairly close to the people in front to try to get everyone in the DOF.

It isn't absolutely necessary for families to stay close, but it might be a big benefit in later years in trying to identify family members if they at least are standing close to each other.

Keep up a line of chatter with the group, talking about the lineup, the poses, and who needs to move a bit, but don't yell at them. In fact, talk as softly as you can and still be heard. They will strive to hear your every word.

While snapping, watch the children, but unless you have a very good relationship with each of them, hold off on the coaching too much. When the one child who hasn't been paying attention suddenly gives you that perfect pose, be sure to snap that one. Take lots, because you won't be able to judge each individual as the shoot progresses, you'll just have to find the best shot later.

bratkinson · May 25, 2016

While I haven't done a lot of group photography, my first objective is to figure out how large the group will be and, most of all...WHERE to put them and WHERE will I be shooting from. Outdoors on a reasonably sunny day is obviously best. Having steps for them to stand on is a great benefit. WARNING: Double check what will be on each side and behind them to make sure there aren't any distracting elements such as poles 'growing' out of someones' head, a bright light shining into the lens, or even unwanted visitors to the area! I've failed to do this several times and end up 'fixing' the background during post processing!

Next, figure out what kind of lighting will be necessary. I've learned that when taking people pictures, to use shutter speeds of 1/160th or so. Any slower might result in subject or camera motion-caused blur. If need be, speeds as low as 1/60th can be used, but expect to end up with a fair number of shots with motion-caused blur. Next, I figure I'll be using f8, to get about 6-10 foot depth of field, "thick enough" to handle 3 rows of subjects and keep them all in focus. That'll put me about 20-25 feet away from the front row. Check out what your DOF will be here: Online Depth of Field Calculator. I'll then take a couple of shots to figure out what ISO speed to use with acceptable noise level, perhaps slowing the shutter speed one notch, or adding flash to light their faces if needed.

The next step is simply to get everyone together in the same place at the same time. At a family reunion, for example, I try to let each of the parents of children under 20 at least a 5 to 10 minute 'heads up' to gather their kids for a family portrait. If reasonable, arrange them to get each parent with their children in front of them, etc. Feel free to adjust where they stand to make sure everyones' face is fully visible. With everyone present, take a couple of test shots looking at the results in the LCD as well as the histogram making exposure adjustments if needed.

Now to take the picture... with groups, my general rule is 8-10 shots in groups less than 10 people, 10-15 shots up to 20 people, and at least 20 shots if more than 20 people. The problem is to get as many people as possible looking at you with their eyes open, and mostly smiling, when you click the shutter. Grumpy faces, frowns, and mouth open talking is to be avoided if possible. Kids under 12 or so are easily distracted and don't want to stay 'put' longer than 2 minutes, give or take. Parental guidance may be needed. I often resort to giving instructions to blink on the count of 3. 1...2...3...blink...wait...click, click, click. Maybe an offer of 'last one to blink gets $10!' gets them to keep their eyes open and smile. Keep shooting while talking. If you have an assistant, maybe popping a paper bag will both surprise them and get them smiling.

The hard part comes during post processing. Having perhaps 20-25 pictures available makes choosing the best 1, 2, or 3 easily done rather than 'make do' with one of only 4-5 you took. Process only the pictures you chose with your choice of editors.

chuasam · May 26, 2016

Just thinking of the shot makes my eye water.
Get a tall ladder.
Climb the ladder and shoot from there.

mcap1972 · May 26, 2016

Here are some of my tips:

Pick a good background not too distracting
Keep the Sun behind them or shoot in a shade
Make sure you can see everyone
Try to get their attention
Take a lot of retakes
f8 and and 1/125 with wide angle lens

good luck

Designer · May 26, 2016

I probably wouldn't have the sun behind them.

You can do some preliminary setups by setting out a few "subjects", like anything, such as a couple of bicycles, or whatever you've got handy, and arrange the objects in a similar size as your people group will be. Figure out about how big the group will be, put a bicycle at one end and another at the other end. With something in the middle of course. Then using probably your 18-135 start framing up what looks right. Get some photos so you can check focus on your computer at 100% size. You can also check for color aberration if you haven't already done so with this lens. Do the same test with your 17-40 to see which one you like better. If you are happy with the results, use that for the group. Measure the dimensions of your test setup, and write it down so you won't forget.

This might be a good time to try your speedlight to use as fill. You can set it up a short distance from the camera position and experiment with different powers of light. Keep the light beam on wide-angle, and see if it will cover the entire width of the setup. If it doesn't quite cover, move the light more to one side so the beam covers more of the group.

beagle100 · May 27, 2016

I agree with shooting in the shade, using at least f8 to get everyone in focus and take plenty of pics

KmH · May 27, 2016

I used 2 speedlights (no light modifiers) set on ladders camera left and right for fill. Note the head shadows on the wall at upper left.
IIRC, both speedlights were set to about 1/16th of full power.
DSLR w/APS-C size image sensor, 24 mm lens @f/8.
Late afternoon, sun low and off camera right.

The 'official' shot.

The 'fun' shot.

dennybeall · May 27, 2016

Came out well. I'd Photoshop the shadows on the wall and would have asked the guy in the white t-shirt to move to his left just a bit. One of the hardest parts of large groups is seeing everybody at the same time.

chuasam · May 27, 2016

Remember this: they're not looking for a photographic masterpiece.
They just want images to show everyone is there with a minimum amount of inconvenience to their afternoon.

Solarflare · May 28, 2016

Sorry for repetitions of what was already said before, but this would be my complete list of suggestions for a posed group shot:

- The usual/obvious: smaller people to the front, as few lines as possible.

- Depending upon what you're going for, but typically make sure they ALL pay attention and look into the camera, and look serious or happy or funny.

- As a general rule of thumb, for optimal results, unless the group is really huge, the first line of the group should stand about 5 meter away. You dont want them to stand too close, especially not with larger sensors, because then depth of field goes down really fast. Also the perspective on people is best at about 5 meters away, i.e. thats when people usually look best, though this also depends upon the individual person.

- Ideal focal length would probably be something like 21mm to 35mm, i.e. wide angle. Just so the group fills the frame.

- Focus into the nearer 1/3 of the group so everyone is in the depth of field.

- Stop down. How much depends upon focal length, sensor size and group size. Of course small sensor cameras are very painless in this respect (and you can ignore much of the following for them), since they are already deep into diffraction anyway even wide open and shouldnt have any issue with depth of field, either.

- Have a tripod and a remote control (infrared perfectly suffices) or a camera with a 10sec delay shutter if you are to be in the same shot.

- With a DSLR enable separate mirror lockup 1-3 sec before the shot for minimal vibrations.

- If the camera offers electonic first curtain, use that for zero vibrations (assuming you also using mirror lockup with a DSLR, and remote control or delayed release). If it offers full electronic shutter and you are not under artificial light and you dont use flash, you can use that.

- If you're standing in the sun, put it behind the group for framing (i.e. people have a white frame of light around their body) and use a flash. But you might need high speed sync, which needs support by both camera and flash to work correctly. Thats the feature that was buggy on the D750 recently. Alternative, if you have a camera with central shutter (all compacts and many medium and almost all large format cameras), then you can use flash the normal way just fine.

- If you use flash, have an eternal and strong one and put it off the camera. Really any other direction is better than full frontal. Ideally some lightstand thats located above the group.

- Or, alternatively or additionally to the last entry, a ringflash would be great. It smoothes our any wrinckles and other skin issues of people.

- FINALLY: VERY IMPORTANT: ALWAYS TAKE MULTIPLE SHOTS !!!! Especially with groups there is a high chance that some people have their eyes closed and kill the shot.

KmH · May 28, 2016

dennybeall said:
Came out well. I'd Photoshop the shadows on the wall and would have asked the guy in the white t-shirt to move to his left just a bit. One of the hardest parts of large groups is seeing everybody at the same time.

I couldn't see he was partly blocked by his wife. I had the camera on it's delay timer so I could scurry to be in the photo too after I pushed the shutter button.

Yep, everyone, including me, wanted a minimum amount of inconvenience to the afternoon, wanted to document who all was there, and were not looking for a photographic masterpiece.