Tips on photographing a large group of people for a panoramic print?

[lilysmom]

Can anyone give me any tips on photographing a large group of people (60-70)? The widest lens I own only goes to 28mm on my cropped frame sensor, so it's really not very wide. I'm thinking it may end up having to be a panoramic shot. I know when shooting for a panorama I should shoot in manual so the exposure is exactly the same on all the shots that will be stitched together. Will I get terrible results shooting people for a panorama? What if the people near the edge of the shots move slightly? Will that skew the results?

 

[cgipson1]

lilysmom.. how much experience do you have at this type of shoot? What equipment do you have available?

 

[480sparky]

If they are under your direction, a stern admonishment to remain still will take care of a lot of problems.

Of course, there's always a handful who think they won't be the problem, but they are... so movement is inevitable. In those cases, I would simply clone the offending jerks out of the stitch with a decent shot of them from another frame. Just think of the people moving about in this one:

 

[lilysmom]

Charlie- I don't have experience with very large groups of people. I'm doing it mostly as a favor for a girl who went to my high school for her family's business and of course as a learning experience. The photo is of all the employees. Equipment-wise, I'll be using my Canon 50D camera. I have the following lenses- Canon 85mm 1.8, Canon 50mm 1.8, Tamron 70-200mm 2.8, Tamron 28-75mm 2.8, and Canon 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS. I'm planning on using the 28-135 with a small aperture since it's such a large group. I do have a flash, but I think that's pointless. Same with my reflector.

Sparky- Thanks for the cloning tip. I didn't even think of that. I take it that means I should clone out the goofballs in the original shots and then do the stitching?

 

[lilysmom]

Oh, and I was also planning on taking a ladder so I can be above the group. There is a grassy bank that might be helpful to arrange the group on.

 

[480sparky]

.............Sparky- Thanks for the cloning tip. I didn't even think of that. I take it that means I should clone out the goofballs in the original shots and then do the stitching?

I do the stitch first, then see what issues I need to deal with.

 

[adartsesirhc]

Use a tripod for the panorama. And make sure that in addition to keeping exposure constant, you keep the same white balance (either in camera if you're shooting JPEG or on your computer if you're shooting RAW).

 

[480sparky]

Oh, and I was also planning on taking a ladder ........

Use a tripod for the panorama.........

How tall do you suggest she use?

 

[adartsesirhc]

Heh, whoops. I just meant for her to have something to she keeps the picture on the same horizontal plane.

I suppose you can just leave the camera on the top step of the ladder. Just make sure it doesn't fall off!

 

[480sparky]

Heh, whoops. I just meant for her to have something to she keeps the picture on the same horizontal plane.

I suppose you can just leave the camera on the top step of the ladder. Just make sure it doesn't fall off!

While not ideal, I've stitched lots of panos using a camera hand-held. I've even done 360° panos while walking around my truck. The one I posted was taken on an 18' pole via an RF trigger.

 

[Edsport]

Never used a tripod yet for a panorama and never had problems stitching...

 

[lilysmom]

Thanks guys. I'm going to take my tripod, too. I was planning on climbing the ladder just to get higher, but unless I keep the legs on my tripod together and kind of use it like a monopod, I won't be able to use the tripod on the ladder.

 

[lilysmom]

I'm leaving now to do this. Wish me luck. I don't want to let these people down.