Photographing groups can be tricky. And the strategies that will give you the best shot are actually counterintuitive. Most photographers do the opposite of what they should do. In this informative episode, Gina and Valerie discuss what you need to know when you shoot groups – the advice might surprise you!
Gina and Valerie hope you enjoy the podcast.
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Show Notes
Listener question
Mandy asks:
Hello all, I’m one of those creepy stalker people that listen to every podcast and follow the group, but I’m not brave enough to post anything, so here goes…Until now I have primarily worked with natural light. I want to challenge myself to branch into the world of flash. I shoot with a Fuji X-T3 and I’m trying to figure out the best way to start. I am thinking a godox speedlight is a good first step? Does anyone have any advice or recommendations for which godox model I should get?
Check out our answer to Mandy’s question in this week’s episode.
Basic tips
- Look for open shade
- Avoid dappled light
- Backlit can be nice if you have fill flash
Flash
- Large modifiers like umbrellas, large octa boxes and softboxes work best
- Umbrella is like a hose on fine spray
- Hard light is like a hose on the narrowest setting
- Avoid hard lighting as it casts shadows
- Flat even lighting is the safest option
- The closer your subject is to the light source the faster the light drops away
- If you want to create a high contrast portrait such as split lighting move the light closer
- If you want a portrait with flatter more ever lighting move the light away from your model
To evenly light groups, set your lights back slightly.
- The closer the light is to your model, the softer the light
- Softness has nothing to do with falloff
- It’s confusing, the best way to understand this is to see it in action.
- Buy a cheap torch and bust out your lego and try the experiment for yourself
Gear
- Use a tripod and lock-off exposure so you can comp heads in if you need to.
- Avoid wide-angle lenses because these distort group shots making people at the front of the group appear huge and people
- at the back look like pinheads.
Focal length
- Wide-angle lens distorts the shape of the human body
- In a group shot people closer to the lens will appear larger than people further away from the lens
- A long lens compresses the background and makes items that further away appear closer to the camera
- In a group shot if you have people further away from the camera using a long lens can give a more balanced look to your image.
- The ideal focal length is between 50mm and 100mm
Gold members
Check out June and August “Ask Me Anything” recordings for more tips on this
Aussie Slang word of the week
Pash: To give a passionate kiss. So you would say “Did you pash him?” “Did you get a pash rash?”
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