 Holly Marie Spoonley |
Large family Capture I will be doing a birthday party this coming Friday and my client would like a large family capture. This is a very special event (80th Birthday Party) and the group capture will be of 40 people including many generations. I have a few different wide angle lens and I would like to know what lens size would be recommended for this shot. We may take the portrait in front of the lake at the Country Club or in the Gazebo. Would be thankful for any recommendations.
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Mark Feldstein |
Greetings Holly: To really address your question with even a modicum of detail we need more details, or at least I do. It'd help to know what kind of a camera you'll be using or at least the format, whether you have flash available to fill in shadows, (I KNOW you'll need that), and if you go for the gazebo shot, which would be my preference, how you plan to arrange the people, standing and seated and how near or far you can situate yourself from the group. For fill flash, for 40 folks, you're going to need a fair amount of light.
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Holly Marie Spoonley |
Mark, Good Evening! I was hoping you would reply to my question. You have always been a great help to me in the past. I will be using my Minolta Maxxum QT si and my fill flash. I think I may bring my Sigma 355 Wireless flash. We will be capturing this shot around 5:30pm so there will be plenty of natural light. Would I need additional lighting? I was thinking of having guests stand in the back row , have a midle row seated or kneeling, and the front row seated on the ground (the children).
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Mark Feldstein |
Wellllllllllllllllllllll, (hang on a second, I'm blushing :>))))) I don't think your Sigma is going to give you enough horsepower to illuminate 40 people. That kinda leaves you with 3 choices: First, get more flash equipment with more horsepower. I'd suggest something like a Norman or Speedotron Pack with about 2400 W/s and a long extension cord. Second, you could figure out where the sun is going to be about that time and let that provide your primary lighting source. Waiting a bit like til 6 or 6:30 might give the sun a chance to get lower on the horizon and provide facial lighting because that's the biggest problem with these deals. Deep shadows especially around the eyes. Third, shoot-em as couples and paste the whole deal together. Nope. Bad idea. With number 2 you need to scout your location and hope for a clear day afternoon. If it's possible, arrange the principals around one part of the gazebo, use that as your focal point, kids on railings, etc., guests around the sides but not too far out. Set your lens, if you can to around 35mm if you've got a tripod, I'd use it for this. Make sure it's plumb and level. Set your flash, off camera, to 1/2 a stop below ambient light, say a "hail mary" and rock and roll, making sure to shoot a lot of exposures and bracket them 1/2 stop to either side of where the meter is telling you to work at. AND above all else, take control of the mob, even if you have to stand on a stool or something else. I'm fairly tall, so what I do is wear a coach's whistle around my neck and usually preface the shoot with a few short bursts followed by "ALRIGHT...LISTEN UP" . This usually gets and holds their attention. Before you shoot, make sure no one is holding a glass or beverage can. Get them to connect up to each other, maybe small groups within the large one with their arms around each others shoulders, holding hands, etc., maybe one large group shot in a semi circle in front of the lake as a separate one. If you know someone is really hammered, find them a seat before they fall down and ...............good luck !!! Lemme know how it turns out.
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Holly Marie Spoonley |
Thank you Mark! As usual your advice is golden! I will definitley tell you how it goes. The event is not until Friday, August 11th. I will be using film so it will be a few weeks before I post the pictures, but I will definitley share them. I like the idea of the whistle. Thank you for your email address, I will try not to overuse it. :)
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Mark Feldstein |
Glad to help out Holly. Any time. ;>) Mark
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Holly Marie Spoonley |
Mark, Well I survived the night! I never did get to take the family picture in front of the gazebo. We ended up taking it last thing at 10:45pm on the dance floor in front of the french doors. It should be interesting! I took four captures just in case! Now we sit and wait for the film to be processed...I promise to share them with you!
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Mark Feldstein |
Hey Holly !! Well, I hope you didn't get any fireballs in those french doors. 10:45 eh? And everyone I trust was as sober as a church mouse?? [Who ever came up with that expression ???] Too bad as I thought the gazebo would have been the hot set up, but you know, as photographers, we adapt, improvise and over come... well, sometimes. Be well. Mark
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Holly Marie Spoonley |
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Denyse Clark |
This is a really old thread, but I'm facing a similar situation & could use a few words. Mark, Holly, anyone! I have a 90th b-day party this weekend, and they tell me the 100+ guests is only PART of ONE SIDE of the family. Sheesh! They have LOTS of very large group shots planned. It's indoors at a party house, from noon till 3pm. I have a rebel XT. Lenses: 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 & 19-35 f/3.5-4.5 I have the 580EX flash and a flash bracket. Please tell me I can pull it off with this!! Or prepare me now for failure, lol.
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Debbie Del Tejo |
My only two cents worth of information is that if you have a wide angle lens, why not USE IT......spread the people so that you produce a nice enough portrait that you can see EVERYONE'S face fully. No sense doing a large group of people if you can only see a little bit of the face or none at all. Hope this helps.
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Mark Feldstein |
Well Holly, it's not terrible or even bad. In fact, I think under the circumstances you did an admirable job. The fall-off of lighting toward the back and edges is always a problem shooting large groups. When I've had to make those kinds of shots, I bring two monolights, rig them either in softboxes or 14" reflectors (for white ceiling bounce) and before bringing in the group, use a meter to measure the evenness of the lighting at four corners. Then I get up on a chair or ladder or something to place strips of blue masking tape on the ceiling to mark those corners. When people roll in, I tell them stand in front of the tape. That seems to help the lighting problems. Yep. Next time let's go for the Gazebo shot !!! Now Denyse, for your deal, I'd stick with the 28-105 working somewhere around 35 mm for starters, perhaps 50mm range to prevent your subjects from looking a little frayed or keystoned around the edges of the frame. And, for your 90 year old honoree, play around with him some...don't just make the standard shot with him in the center of the front row. Put him IN with the family, not necessarily as the center of attention but doing something else. I wouldn't spread the people out much, but you want to connect them in some way, arms around each other, holding hands, touching shoulders, looking at each other instead of you, laughing, having a gr8 time, stuff like that. Take it light gang. ;>)
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