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02/16/2003 10:43:03 PM · #1 |
| Grandma's 100th birthday is coming up and all the family will be there and sense I have been fooling around with the camera and they all know it they are expection me to take some family and/or group shots. I need ideas on how to make interesting pictures of family groups. |
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02/16/2003 11:01:23 PM · #2 |
just an Idea from family group shots i have seen before...
Grandma with just her kids....
grandma with just the grand kids (then the great grand kids)
grandma with just the ladies
grandma with just the men
then grandma with her kids (one family at time..you know uncle bob and his wife and kids, than aunt sue and her husband and so on..) and their spouse and kids
then every one in one shot
just rememer to take 2 or 3 of each shot so you will get plenty of keepers.....
James
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02/16/2003 11:14:39 PM · #3 |
| Is this going to be indoors? I'd suggest thinking about the lighting beforehand. You'll want a fast shutter to catch everyone. I don't think that people really expect their family get-together shots to look like a professional portrait. They just want to be able to see everyone clearly, and good lighting is a must. You might want to even take a few test shots in the selected spot beforehand. |
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02/16/2003 11:25:10 PM · #4 |
Frank,
I'm no expert but I feel compelled to reply anyway...
* Consider the background - you either want it to be a feature or non-distracting (most likely non-distracting unless it has some significant value like "grandma lived here for 70 years").
* Consider the angle. I've heard people say that photo's are rarely interesting when taken from 5 feet above the ground. Perhaps a shot of grandma and grandchildren taken from down low looking up, for example.
* Perhaps a shot with grandchildren looking up at grandma, and grandma looking down at children. I don't think everyone needs to be smiling at the camera for an interesting shot to be taken.
* Perhaps some kind of progression shot - like women from youngest to oldest. It could be tacky, but if done well it could be nice.
* For the cake shot maybe try one taken from close to the cake, but focused on grandma with the cake slightly blurred in the foreground. Might be a little too artistic for what you want.
The comments about light are definitely relevant if taken indoors. Our eyes seem to adjust to indoor light much better than a camera will and you quite probably won't have the luxury of a tripod for most shots so you want as fast a shutter speed as you can get. Maybe you can replace the light globes or even reflect a flood light off the ceiling if feasible? Having said that I prefer to be unobtrusive since you probably want nice candid shots and don't want everyone to feel like they are being studied all day - perhaps just light the posed photos (group shot).
Hopefully I've given a couple of ideas to run with - have a great day. Oh, and don't forget batteries... lots of batteries. |
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02/16/2003 11:56:47 PM · #5 |
| Depending on how many generations are represented at the gathering, getting one directly-related female from each generation is really interesting - I saw a five generation shot with five women that was pretty neat, you could really see which traits were passed on, and which varied. |
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02/17/2003 05:01:39 AM · #6 |
I did a photo session with some friends of mine. They all are brothers & sisters. I did a few general shots and played with their positions. I simply used a dark blue sheet for the background and two 500watt lights on a stand.
Family 1
Family 2
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02/17/2003 12:08:25 PM · #7 |
Actually, you wouldn't want to take a portrait of them from down low. Give's bad angles, and double chins.
You want to be eye level with the subject... grandma.. even if there are others around.
Try having everyone look at Grandma seated a bit to the right of center.
All eyes will draw the attention to the subject... You will still see everyone who was there, but it will be a portrait about grandma.
She should still be looking at the lens.
The other arrangement suggestions are also good.
Originally posted by aussie:
I did a photo session with some friends of mine. They all are brothers & sisters. I did a few general shots and played with their positions. I simply used a dark blue sheet for the background and two 500watt lights on a stand.
Family 1
Family 2 |
Those are very good!
I like the first one, but see how in the second one the arrangement of the people form a globally recognizable geometric? That is why it is so pleasing to the eye.
Message edited by author 2003-02-17 12:10:02.
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02/26/2003 11:44:07 PM · #8 |
Thanks everyone for your help. We had a great time at the party.
More pictures
//groups.msn.com/beckmanfrankandjan/dears100thbirthday.msnw?Page=1 |
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