Photographing groups of people

[pixel pete]

I had a chance to photograph a family recently at our local park and I liked the way it turned out. I also had a chance to have 'help' for a change. Having assistants is a luxury for me.

Do let me know what you think. Thanks everyone. There are more details my blog for those interested.

• Canon 5DMark2
• 800-200 zoom
• 2 Canon Speedlights
• 1 White Lightning studio flash

Images shot on raw, very minimal processing in Lightroom 5

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Peter,

Sat looking at this image for ages before commenting one of the reasons being i had a go at this sort of thing not long ago and it was an experience to say the least and i had no assistant! let me first compliment you on you lighting apart from the shadow on the older ladies top cause by the younger girls arm i think you did very well and you balance d the natural with you strobes just right an i think you got the ambient/fill correct as well.

I was going to say it looks a little soft but i seem to be saying that a lot about picture on cic and i think its either my end or the upload procedure so ill ignore that cause im sure its not. Im not a real fan of formal pictures like this but if thats what the customer wants then so be it.

I would pay more attention to your subjects hands, the older ladies RH, the young girl on the left RH (on older ladies shoulder and the girl in the front all have unnatural badly posed
hands.

Maybe a more neutral back ground or better shallow DOF, you have a tree trunk sprouting out of the lady on the right's head....and if you have the need to seat one of your models maybe something natural like a tree stump or something that fits with the environment, not a metal frame chair.

im personally not keen on missing feet or stray boot tops but i can see what you were trying to achieve with the unusual angles, it does give a unique look to the composition.

Well hope that helps, having tried this i know how difficult it is and you did well.

[pixel pete]

Thanks Mark for the input. We learn something each time we shoot outside of our usual subjects. I agree with you on all those points you raised. We all wish we had Speedlites with High Shutter Speed sync capabilities that can put out enough light but I don't.

I considered moving even further back and shooting with my longest focal length but that would require me to be even further away.

Being so far back from a group makes it tough to establish rapport with subjects.

One of the biggest challenges on something like is time. I spent about 1hr 40 mins--actual shooting time but I didn't charge extra for that. I often do so when I think it's worth the effort to get a good image my clients will be happy with.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment, Mark.

[Kodiak]

Do let me know what you think.

Hey Peter,

IMO, a brilliant failure! You succeeded 6 great individual portraits but failed
in the family shot.

At this size, I see happy character faces, very at ease individuals but no
filiation… except the grand mother and the girl at her right! this is a nice
group photo but no much of a family photo.

Your light input in the scene is pretty accurate and correct. I think the grassy
aera should have been avoided. Finally, a more appropriate aperture would
have soften the background that is too recognizable.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, I think the father and young daughter in front break the mold of the other members poses. I think this what makes the photo a bit more interesting, it's like the others are frozen in time and the father and daughter are the only mobile posers.

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Peter, another reason i took a while to respond was that i knew my reply would be balanced towards the negative and i hate doing that sort of critique... BUT

Thanks Mark for the input. We learn something each time we shoot outside of our usual subjects. I agree with you on all those points you raised. We all wish we had Speedlites with High Shutter Speed sync capabilities that can put out enough light but I don't.

As far as im concerned you got the light right if you need an OOF background get more separation, or use an ND to reduce your app if you cant get you shutter speed down as you know its all a balancing act between lens sweetspots and all, the other crap you have to think about!

I read something or watched a video and the guy said " its all about getting the gear out of the way." What he ment was that you need to be so familiar with it that you dont have to think about it and that leaves you time to concentrate on the shot. A lot of folk complain about the tecchie thread on CIC but these are all essential for togs to get to grips with so that they can just do it automatically and know what the results will be without guess work. Creativity is only PART of the equation.

You can actually do something with your lightning called hypersync if it can be triggered with pocket wizards, have a read on it.

To establish rapor with you clients, take some "bin" pics first of chat with them whilst setting up, then move away for the shot, move back in have a chat and move out again, try less formal settings/poses arrange them around somthing thats part of the envioroment, even better dont arrange them at all let them do it themselves with guidence from you but keep shooting all the time whilst they chat amongst themselves.

Youve have a chance to do somthing different and had a go and posted it up here, we all take photos and have a critical eye, your customers wont be anywhere near as critical as we are! when i did it i sold 10 different pics but personally i thought there was loads of room for improvement!

So chin up ya did well bud

[truonda]

Peter, I think Daniel and Mark made a lot of valid points about how your portrait could be improved. However, I would like to add that you should be more concerned about whether your clients like how the pictures turned out. I happened to be talking to a coworker today who told me her parents hired a professional photographer to shoot a family portrait. As it turns out, the parents didn't like the pictures very much because the photographer shot mostly wide open aperture. Communication is key!

[pixel pete]

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for chiming in. To clarify, I agree with suggestions/criticism I received. Ultimately, what matters is the clients loved the pictures and ordered prints to make it profitable. But that doesn't mean that's strictly how I operate. I am not so big-headed to think my work is so great that there is never room for improvement.

When I hear you say "the parents didn't like the pictures because the photographer shot mostly wide open," I have to question whether the parents knew WTH they were talking about. It all sounds too technical for the lay person to say that. Most of the time clients only know if something wasn't very sharp or in focus.

[Shadowman]

Hi Daniel,

When I hear you say "the parents didn't like the pictures because the photographer shot mostly wide open," I have to question whether the parents knew WTH they were talking about. It all sounds too technical for the lay person to say that. Most of the time clients only know if something wasn't very sharp or in focus.

Perhaps they came to CiC to find ways of evaluating their image or another photographer evaluated it for them,.

[truonda]

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for chiming in. To clarify, I agree with suggestions/criticism I received. Ultimately, what matters is the clients loved the pictures and ordered prints to make it profitable. But that doesn't mean that's strictly how I operate. I am not so big-headed to think my work is so great that there is never room for improvement.

When I hear you say "the parents didn't like the pictures because the photographer shot mostly wide open," I have to question whether the parents knew WTH they were talking about. It all sounds too technical for the lay person to say that. Most of the time clients only know if something wasn't very sharp or in focus.

Perhaps they came to CiC to find ways of evaluating their image or another photographer evaluated it for them,.

Sorry for the confusion guys; those were my words. I should have said that the parents didn't like that the background was all blurry and OOF.

[Shadowman]

Sorry for the confusion guys; those were my words. I should have said that the parents didn't like that the background was all blurry and OOF.

So I was right. Partially.

[Manfred M]

I have some professional photographer friends, with a well established business. who were recently forced to "fire" one of their clients.

They started working with a woman who had unrealistic expectations on the length of time the shoot would take (she was thinking of 5 or 10 minutes, whereas the photgraphers were looking at an hour or more), she also had very specific views on what the final product would look like. Nicely said, she preferred a "snapshot" look and approach versus an image professional would take.

Nicely said; they did not want to risk their reputation with what they (and most other people) would have considered poor quality work. They refunded the client's deposit and suggested she go elsewhere...

A photographer sometimes has to walk a very fine line between what a client wants and what they are willing to deliver. I've heard of other cases where the "people" view shallow DoF as an error on the photographer's part. They want a sharp image and no artsy photographer will ever convince them that and OOF background will give them a better looking image.

[myrah fernandes]

One of the most common types of digital photographs is the ‘Family group Photo‘.

They happen everywhere from weddings, to Picnics, to parties, to any occassions.

There must be thousands of family group photos taken each day around the world –
Common group photo mistakes and problems include:

one or more subjects always seem to be looking away or in different directions (ie at different photographers)
subjects blinking (there’s always one)
someone being missing from the photo
different moods in the group (some smiling, some serious, some playing up to the camera etc)
the group being too far away or not all fitting into the shot
While there will always be such challenges with family Photos there are a number of things you can do to help improve your chances of getting the shot you’re after: FAMILY PORTRAIT IDEAS – TIPS TO RECREATE & CAPTURE FAMILY MOMENTS

[Manfred M]

One of the most common types of digital photographs is the ‘Family group Photo‘.

They happen everywhere from weddings, to Picnics, to parties, to any occassions.

There must be thousands of family group photos taken each day around the world –
Common group photo mistakes and problems include:

one or more subjects always seem to be looking away or in different directions (ie at different photographers)
subjects blinking (there’s always one)
someone being missing from the photo
different moods in the group (some smiling, some serious, some playing up to the camera etc)
the group being too far away or not all fitting into the shot
While there will always be such challenges with family Photos there are a number of things you can do to help improve your chances of getting the shot you’re after: FAMILY PORTRAIT IDEAS – TIPS TO RECREATE & CAPTURE FAMILY MOMENTS

Myrah - I'm trying to understand your post. It adds little to this thread (which was started by a photographer who does knows what he is doing) and much like your other posts, links to a commercial site that offers a very high level view on the topic.

If you have meaningful thoughts and information to add to a thread, please feel free to post. If on the other hand you are trying to direct traffic to a specific site, that is definitely not something this site should be used for and the moderators will take appropriate action.