Nikon D3S, 24 – 120mm, ISO 200, f/9, 1/60

This first photo may not make much sense on its own. Taking the picture this way requires a lot of light. However, when I was asked to help my son with all his friends on prom night, I had to take a lot of couple shots and group shots in a short time.

If you look at the lighting diagram, you will notice that I have placed lights behind the people and up the stairs behind them. This allows me to shoot without having to drag the shutter for too long to capture the background. It also helped me by having a shadow that didn’t receive any light, which meant that the dynamic range was, in some ways, compressed.

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I hope you are seeing that I didn’t move. What I did do is use the Nikon 24-120mm lens so I could stay put and zoom in and out to accommodate the size of each grouping.

If I were to step forward, I might cast a shadow into the photo.  By standing back, you avoid the problem of the photographer casting a shadow on the subject.

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This last photo helps you understand one more reason I set the lights one way and left them as they were.  I placed the lights on light stands and positioned them as high as possible. I then added sandbags to the bottom of the stands.

This helped ensure the light would drop off behind people and prevent any shadows from falling on those in the back rows.  Additionally, by having steps to follow, I could arrange everyone in the photo and capture their faces.

Summary

Often, what determines how you photograph groups is the time you have with the group and the number of different groups you have in that time frame.  I have learned to set up for the largest group and then place the smaller groups in the same space, getting closer with the camera.