Family pictures: I don’t do family photos or group shots but have been asked by my family to shoot pictures for a small family reunion. I have a great location but need some guidance.

al13

I don’t do family photos or group shots but have been asked by my family to shoot pictures for a small family reunion. I have a great location but need some guidance. There will be eleven adults and four children. Should the group pictures show feet up or chest high? I can get candid pictures during their stay but it’s the group shots that I have no experience with. I have a great barn and pond for a backdrop as long as the weather cooperates. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Primarily the faces need to be the subject. Portrait studios use props for seating and bunching large groups together. Torso-up sounds good.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Personally I prefer all body parts in group shots. Assist the group members to position themselves. Thin face camera - plus sizes turn a bit sideways.......tall in the back, etc.
Camera on tripod - shoot 3 to 5 shots 5 seconds apart of each pose so you can change-out faces if necessary in post.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

al13 wrote:

I don’t do family photos or group shots but have been asked by my family to shoot pictures for a small family reunion. I have a great location but need some guidance. There will be eleven adults and four children. Should the group pictures show feet up or chest high? I can get candid pictures during their stay but it’s the group shots that I have no experience with. I have a great barn and pond for a backdrop as long as the weather cooperates. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A lot of this depends on the size of the group, the location, weather, the number of small children (if any) etc...

Simply not enough info here to give any useful advice.

Steamboat

Google outside family poses for groups of 11. Get some ideas for poses. Show the group the photo your trying to do. Set them up quickly, shoot fast but deliberate. Stand before the group get their attention and say READY...OK (and shoot) Then repeat this till you think you have it.
Maybe now adjust the pose for a variation ? Remember people and kids get board easily so you have maybe 15 to 25 minutes start to finish.
And let the chips fall where they may.

Use a tripod, remember to set you camera correctly. The week before keep checking the light to see what it will look like at the exact time you want to shoot. Maybe its nicer in a different direction ....be flexable.
Shoot Raw and Jpg I will sometimes replace a face in Post to get everyone looking good.

I hope this helps

al13

Thanks to all, will shoot chest up and full bodies and let them decide what they want. Slightly turning bodies sounds good too. Eleven adults will not be a problem lens wise with my 16 to 80. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

Steamboat

Don't shoot with too wide a lens. Try to stick with 50mm or 35mm focal length. (this assumes full frame sensor) Be sure to check you DOF

repleo Loc: Boston

al13 wrote:

Thanks to all, will shoot chest up and full bodies and let them decide what they want. Slightly turning bodies sounds good too. Eleven adults will not be a problem lens wise with my 16 to 80. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

One of my other interests is genealogy. Don't underestimate the value some descendants may put on your photos down the road. If the group is all one family, put the matriarch / patriarch in the middle to make it easier to look for family resemblances. Try to find some way of recording the names, the date and the occasion.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If there are a lot of people in the group, feet up. If there are only 3-4, whatever looks good.
Using flash? Take at least a half dozen photos. Someone will probably blink in one or two of them. In fact, since digital photos don't cost anything beyond the capital cost of the equipment, take several shots of each group. Someone might be making a weird face pre-sneeze or something like that.

al13

repleo wrote:

One of my other interests is genealogy. Don't underestimate the value some descendants may put on your photos down the road. If the group is all one family, put the matriarch / patriarch in the middle to make it easier to look for family resemblances. Try to find some way of recording the names, the date and the occasion.

It’s my brothers family so I will leave it up to them to make copies for All as well as dates and times. I’ll keep the originals. Good idea on the middle.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

dsmeltz wrote:

A lot of this depends on the size of the group, the location, weather, the number of small children (if any) etc...

Simply not enough info here to give any useful advice.

What do you want - He gave you the size of group and number of children. How will he know what the weather will be? Please read the posts before you complain. - Dave

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

wilsondl2 wrote:

What do you want - He gave you the size of group and number of children. How will he know what the weather will be? Please read the posts before you complain. - Dave

Sorry. Morning reading blindness I guess.

For 11 and 4 children (total 15 people) chest up is not likely to work. You will either have to do three lines of people stacked on something. Or use an elevated position for the camera. If this is indoors, you need a big room so in the barn with some off camera flash. If outdoors with the pond and barn in the background you will still need some elevation to get them in the background.

Also remember to tell them that if they cannot see the camera, the camera cannot see them.

Steamboat

Google "poses for family photo of 15 outside" there are tons of great easy ideas.
Use the Internet ...its your friend

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

al13 wrote:

I don’t do family photos or group shots but have been asked by my family to shoot pictures for a small family reunion. I have a great location but need some guidance. There will be eleven adults and four children. Should the group pictures show feet up or chest high? I can get candid pictures during their stay but it’s the group shots that I have no experience with. I have a great barn and pond for a backdrop as long as the weather cooperates. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Since the subject is people photography, why would you not post this in the People Photography section??
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-101-1.html

CO

Be careful not to crop people at their joints. A crop a mid-thigh would be good. Since everybody is a different height, that may not be possible. You may want to photograph the people full length from head to toe.