zgirl Loc: TN

I wish you the best with this!

Recently a very loved aunt passed and after the funeral my cousin asked if I wouldn't mind taking some pics. I normally take nature, air-show and race pictures, so I was a little nervous about shooting people, much less family. I had my camera, but only one lens, no reflector, tripod, nothin'.....

It was awful. Everyone was ready to leave, so everything was rushed. It was absolutely the worst time of day to take pics and when I asked them to face toward the sun, they all complained and refused, so everyone was washed out on one side and shadowed on the other. There is not a lot of pigmentation in our family to help balance that effect. :-)

I would rather sit in 30 degree weather hoping to catch the evasive fox kits than go through that again!

The end result is that I have resolved to do better with actual people type portraits, so I am getting a lot of advice from this thread.

Thanks!

pappleg

I tend to like informalty in groups, especially outdoors. Have fun with it and the group will be more engaged. One of my most effective was a ski trip we took with friends years ago. We did a little hiking in light snow and happened upon a pine forest. Using my tripod and self timer we posed everybody looking out from behind trees-a dozen or so of us. Everyone had a ball and it was one of my best ever informal portraits. Pat

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

Never heard that term. My photo teacher calls it herding cats.

TMcL

Great photos. They reminded me of an aspect of family portraits that Tomfl101 forgot to mention, but demonstrated brilliantly ... if possible try to get the family to coordinate clothing, and ask them to keep the clothing as plain as possible. No loud checks or prints, no logos or movie/cartoon prints on kids clothes etc. These photos are going to be keepsakes and you don't want them to be dated by the clothes.

On the question of waist up or full length, the ages of the kids will determine that. You don't want to do waist up shots if the kids are not at least waist high!!

May be a good idea to have the principals seated on chairs at the center, with the kids on the floor.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

With that size group, I doubt that anything from feet up is an option. Lots of options when you shoot smaller groups, but from feet up is always at least one posed shot, then you can do 3/4, head shots, or better yet do some homework on posing and composition. Sounds like you will have a near perfect backdrop. Watch how light and shadows interact on large group shot. Try to avoid streaks of either. You may have to use fill flash to cancel them out. Youtube has a ton of stuff on this.

Cheese

But how do you include kids in 3/4 or head shots?

Cheese

Agree about coordinating clothing.

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Yes, if you decide to have to crop be sure as CO, has said about cropping at joints. I will almost guarantee if you are using a flash that at least one or more people will blink or have their eyes closed during your shots, so preview them to get rid of the blinkers. Yes keep the originals yourself and do not chance giving the originals to a family member that might not understand or appreciate the time it took to get the shots, moreover the edits also. You may wish also to have the people tilt their heads up slightly so they you get a better exposure of their faces and eyes. I would venture to say that in every group there is the group jester who wants to hold up their hands behind the person or both persons with the old devil horns held above their heads. They may cute at the moments but down the road people would say why did Uncle Johnny have to spoil that shot.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Oh, if you are going to be in the photo, watch for movers. These are people who, after you have carefully set everyone and start to move to the spot you left open for your body, decide to move over, sit down, stand up or take their jacket off and drop it on the ground but still in frame. Often they even move out of frame or leave your composition suddenly unbalanced.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

Many many years. Yes I'm a pro and recently retired from my day job. Ready to learn new things.

Logan1949

This was taken of my wife's mother, and all of her children and their spouses, and their children, and their children. My wife died 3 years later, so this is one of my favorite photos.

The camera was on a tripod, about 15 feet away, with a 10-second delay to take 3 shots about 1-3 seconds apart. The hedge in the background does not backlight the shot or distract from the subject. This was taken in the shade of late afternoon.

p.s. edit --- The camera was about chest height to the standing people. I have no knowledge of what kind of camera it was. And the extra space to the top, bottom, and sides, allows this to be cropped and printed on an 8.5x11 inch print. And I believe there was a light flash from the camera for each shot.
p.p.s edit --- Notice how the photographer (the guy on the left) arranged 4 rows of people. From the front: 2 seated on the ground; 4 seated on a bench with 1 in the lap, flanked by 2 kneeling; 5 standing; 4 standing behind --- their faces seen between the 5 standing.

(Download)

al13

Thanks to all

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Interesting term.
I love colloquialisms!