group photo

[Boris]

It's my last year of university and one of the souvenir that we want is a group photo.

A pro is taking individual picture of everybody but I'll take the group cause they're is no way a normal photographer would work under the circumstance imposed and with the money we are really to give for that.

First I have about 10 minutes to take the pictures people have other stuff to do.

Like I said we don't have any budget I'll use what I have D70s + kit lens probably. I can't buy new equipment nor renting it. (I can also use 50 mm 1.8)

But my biggest problem is light, the photo must be taken at 12h00 so I'm not to sure about taking picture outside. Light coming directly from above doesn't give good result.

I fond 2 option, first take the picture where the light from the sun is visible but indirectly and believe in my sb600.

The other solution is still using indirect light from the sun plus my SB600 and some random light spot in no way made for photography.

The group will be about 30-50.

I would like to know if any of my 2 idea is possible because its not a picture I can take another day.

Sorry if my english is not perfect, I'm a french canadian and I really need some sleep.

[Rooz]

it will depend on the day and the sun. if its cloudy you're laughing. if it's sunny you will need to use some fill flash. try and set them up in the shade if at all possible. be careful with your aperture setting most of all. depending on the size of the group, you may need to use something like f8 to get them all in focus.

[K1W1]

I assume that you are going to use a tripod so you can set the timer then run around and join in the group for the photo. If that's the case f8 should not be a problem.
A remote control would be good but I suspect that you will be to far away for the Nikon remote to work.
Take as many shots as you can get away with. With a group that size you can be assured that in half the photos there will be people with their eyes closed or looking cross eyed or with their tongues out or hair in their faces or in front of somebody else, etc. The more shots you take the more chances you have of getting at least one that is acceptable.

[tcadwall]

K1W1 has given great advice.

Your sig. doesn't say whether you have a ML-L3 remote. The thing is <$20 here, and is priceless. I have used it for group shots I was in, where I was more than 20 ft or 7m away. It does have pretty good range. Best thing about this is that you can take MANY shots without having to leave the group, you either have to put it on Remote+time or hide your remote pretty well in order for the remote not to be obviously in view in the shots.

One thing that I really want to stress is that if you do a timed, OR a remote release, it is worth it to cover the viewfinder when you do this. Without your eye behind the viewfinder to block light entering the viewfinder, you can easily wash out your shot somewhat. This will give you a low contrast shot since there will be extra light bouncing around in there. The D70s DOES ship with a little slide on cover, but it is probably easier to just have a dark thick cloth to drape over the back.

Oh one other thing, once you have the shot framed - frame it loosely since you might be printing 8x10s and you will need to crop - don't bump the tripod. I took 20 shots of one pose, and later had to do a LOT of post, because I had inadvertently bumped the tripod after my setup. One of the subjects ended up cut on the left side. I was able to super impose and bleed in my test shot so that I could get the rest of his body back in. But that was a major pain.

Here is a family shot that I did recently:
I didn't do a good enough job of hiding my remote so I had to remove my hand in post.... LOL! But this low rez conversion before adjusting wb and other edits will give an idea of some of what to do and some of what NOT to do.

Things to note for future about this one... We were in the shade and flash did a great job of filling in shadows, but some blown out highlights are behind us. There is almost too much room to crop tightly for 8x10, but I wanted to get some of the surroundings included in the crop. This is non-cropped.

I will note too that one of the best things about this series was that the little one on the bottom left was doing a goofy smile for most shots (including this one as you see), but when she relaxed, she had a beautiful smile. Because I was taking these in continuous mode, I got a lot of shots with little to no movement in the subjects. I was later able to crop her out of another shot (where the rest of the group didn't have the best expressions) and overlay her perfectly into this one. But if I showed you the end results, there wouldn't be as many lessons to be learned - right?

D70s|Nikkor 18-200mm|f8|1/60s|SlowSync Flash
http://www.inventorypeople.com/img/DSC_1702_1.jpg

[Boris]

First, thanks,

I got ML-L3 but i was thinking about using the trial version of camera capture pro.

I got some computer skill so I was thinking about creating a little applet to change setting between each shot. I'll take about 20 photos in different setting (changing aperture speed and iso. Flash and no flash... Ill probably shoot more than one at f8.

[tcadwall]

I got some computer skill so I was thinking about creating a little applet to change setting between each shot. I'll take about 20 photos in different setting (changing aperture speed and iso. Flash and no flash... Ill probably shoot more than one at f8.
That sounds somewhat ambitious...

I would have several concerns with this. The first is that once you get the settings the way you want them, that is when you want a bunch of shots to increase your chances that you don't get closed eyes, bad facial expressions etc. What happens if your worst shot (technically) happens to be the best shot for the group pose?

The second concern is that tethered shooting won't be as fast as shooting to a card.

Both of these equate to the idea that you will need a very patient group!

[Boris]

I wont have a patient group so Ill try the ML-L3 way then. I looked at the sun today and its not that high in the sky at noon now with winter approaching. I'll still stick with indirect light in case of a sunny day but I'm less affraid of it.

[Rooz]

why did you use slow sync flash tc ?

[tcadwall]

why did you use slow sync flash tc ?

Well, my reasoning could be wrong... but this is what I was thinking.

I wanted to make sure that I was getting mostly natural light, and that the flash would have little effect on the exposure... Really I was just using the flash to help reduce shadows.

Unfortunately, when I converted the raw for this, and didn't have my edits applied, I didn't have my screen calibrated - that old problem of Vista resetting my brightness and contrast - so it appears a bit washed. But you can tell that the shadows have been greatly reduced in the faces.

There may be another setting that would have been better, and I am not certain that there isn't more flash information in the exif that I didn't post... Recommendations?

[Rooz]

Well, my reasoning could be wrong... but this is what I was thinking.

I wanted to make sure that I was getting mostly natural light, and that the flash would have little effect on the exposure... Really I was just using the flash to help reduce shadows.

Unfortunately, when I converted the raw for this, and didn't have my edits applied, I didn't have my screen calibrated - that old problem of Vista resetting my brightness and contrast - so it appears a bit washed. But you can tell that the shadows have been greatly reduced in the faces.

There may be another setting that would have been better, and I am not certain that there isn't more flash information in the exif that I didn't post... Recommendations?

the photo exposure and flash balance turned out perfect, thats why i was wondering. have never thought to use slow-sync in that situation. normally i'd just set it to BL. based on that result, i may have to give SS a try next time.