Group photos. A photographers worst nightmare. This last weekend, I got to do three extremely large group photos. One with up to 60 people and two others of 30. A little background, I was doing photography for The Onyx House, it is a CO-ED Christian house in Eugene, Oregon. I actually lived there for two years, but moved out last summer in 2007. It was a great place to live, and a great place to learn how to deal with large amounts of people! I actually setup my first photography studio on the basement of this house, and convinced housemates to let me take pictures of them.
My main task of the night was to take a group picture of all the residence.
I had my brand new Nikon D300 camera. It was definitely a great way to test out the capabilities of the camera. I was shooting JPEG images most of the night at 1000 ISO. The pictures turned out magnificent without any additional noise reduction there was hardly any to be seen! I also had not recharged my battery since putting it into my D300, and had already taken over 500 pictures. I had around 50% battery left, and an extra battery just in case. By the time the night was over, my camera had 6% battery, and I had taken nearly 300 pictures. That’s a total of 800 pictures before having to recharge my battery. Quite an improvement from my Nikon D200!
After the "Narnia" pictures. I got an opportunity to play a little. When everyone was asked to go over to the "dance floor" I quickly followed with my two flashes in hand (I ditched the umbrellas). I placed them on opposite sides of the dance floor, and since I had them triggered on wireless by my trusty Pocket Wizards, I was free to move around the room wherever I pleased! I got a few interesting pictures.
Lastly, after everything was winding down, I was pressed with a daunting task: a group photo of everyone in the house. My trusty D300, and 12 mega pixels to fit 60 people into. I had two strobe lights and with my stands on some dining tables was just enough to light the scene.
I added a black border to focus the attention toward the people in the picture. Here are the pictures from the shoot. I hope you enjoy them!
Lastly, I decided that I could throw in a picture I did a few months ago of the staff of my personal church, Eugene Faith Center. This one has a little more flavor because it actually had appealing surroundings.
2 comments:
Hi Will, I like your staff group picture. I'm being asked to go back and do an indoor shot next week (staff changes).
This was my first one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tvphoto/1055885732/
This time I'm planning to bring my dual 150 w/s with trigger and do 'dual' lighting like you did. The trouble I have is "how to arrange a group". I've never been good at that.
Thanks!
Thanks Jason!
Just make sure the second row isn't fighting to get through. Give them some space by either having the first row sit. Maybe find a bench or something if you do it at the park again. When they are crowded like this, it makes it more difficult to get the lighting you want.
I noticed that there is a little hill behind them. You could even back them up the hill a little, but don't leave a large gap between the rows, or you'll wonder why the people look so short in the back! :)
The dual lights helped me a lot. Gave a wide spread of light to everyone in the picture. If you can't find a place for them to sit, i guess raise your light as high as possible. On my other group pictures I had them maybe 12 feet up and behind umbrellas, higher than the highest head.
I am glad I am able to help!
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