How to take group portraits

Photography is a profound knowledge. If everyone wants to learn photography well, they must continue to observe and make progress in life. Below are the methods for shooting group-themed portraits that I have collected for you. I hope it can help you!

1. Lens Selection

In situations where space is limited and there are a large number of people, a 28mm or 33mm wide-angle fixed-focus lens is required. Because the wide-angle fixed-focus lens has a large angle of view, the photographer can put the subject into the viewfinder in a limited space without retreating too far, and the deformation control of the fixed-focus lens is much stronger than that of the zoom lens, which is suitable for people who are subject to certain conditions. This is very important in situations where the conditions are restrictive and do not allow you to retreat too far for viewing.

If there are not many people in the group photo and you can retreat, the advantage of the 70-135mm medium focal length lens can be reflected, that is, compared with the group photo taken with a wide-angle fixed focus lens, it can The image will not change the overall shape, and has the characteristics of highlighting the characters and blurring the background.

2. Posture and composition

The key to posing and composition in the process of shooting group portraits is to master the following three elements, which include:

1. Technical. The composition design must make the people in the back as close as possible to the people in the front. This can ensure that the characters in the front and back rows all appear within the plane, and it is easy to focus from front to back, ensuring that the clarity of the characters appearing in the picture remains consistent.

2. The expression of beauty. Creating group portraits is also about composition design. We can take a group photo of faces crowded together like a bouquet of flowers, or we can take a group photo of everyone with a wide distance between them. To make it not only vivid but also harmonious as a whole, we can imagine this picture as flower arrangement. We have to solve the problem of how to combine individuals of various colors and shapes into a perfect and harmonious whole. All things in the world are beautiful beings. They can be independent or integrated. No matter how they are combined, as long as you use skills to show their beautiful side to the viewer and satisfy the viewer, such a picture will be successful.

3. Closeness. How close do you want each member of the group to be? We all know that close distance is friendly, while distance is elegant. During the shooting process, family photos of more than 4 people should be divided into one or more rows according to the status and age of the people. During this period, the face orientation or height of the people can be slightly changed to take more dynamic and active photos. Of course, if you are taking a conference group photo, you need to capture the dignified and upright side of each character.

Based on the above three points, the following explains in detail the different shooting methods for groups with different numbers of characters.

1. Two portraits. The smallest group is two people. Whether they are the bride and groom, brothers and sisters, or friends, the basic principle of composition is that one person is slightly taller than the other. Generally speaking, the height of the mouth of the taller person should be at the forehead of the lower person. Many photographers recommend "mouth to eye height" as an ideal starting point. Arrange the shoulders and heads of two people at a 45° angle, or use props such as armrests and chairs to form a triangle and pose in a snuggling pose. The photos taken in this way will have a strong sense of family warmth.

2. Four figures. When shooting for 4 people, the eye height of the 4th person cannot be the same as the other 3 people in the group. This will create a kind of visual beauty and the overall look will be well-proportioned. The overall composition can be organized into shapes such as pyramids, inverted triangles, diamonds and curves, thus making the entire picture more vivid.

3. Large groups. When the number of people in a group exceeds 9, it is no longer a small group. When photographing such a group, the complexity and difficulty of lighting, posing and other issues will increase. When photographing a large group, you must leave some space between people. The gap is not easy to be too large or too small. The arrangement of height and height, as well as the arrangement of men and women, must be particular. Usually, men and women are arranged in one or more rows to better reflect the neatness of the picture.

Clothing must be uniform. If it cannot be the same, the color must be uniform. When shooting, poses should be natural and comfortable. Arranging a group of more than 20 people will take at least about 10 minutes, so it is especially important to get your subjects into comfortable poses.

3. Group photo shooting skills

1. Shooting skills. When preparing to take a group photo, the first thing to consider is what kind of exposure combination to use to meet the purpose of clearly identifying the characters. If you are shooting with a handheld camera, and it is a standard lens or a wide-angle lens, the shutter speed is easy to determine, it should not be slower than 1/60 second. If the light conditions do not allow, you can slow down the speed to 1/30 second or 1/15 second. In this way, you cannot hold the camera for shooting. The camera must be fixed on a tripod. You cannot slow down the shutter speed arbitrarily. /15 seconds, this is because even if the camera does not move, no one can guarantee that none of the many people being photographed will shake or blink. If the portrait group photo is taken outdoors, generally use front light or 45° side light. Front side light will cause projection on the person's face. For forward light or 45° side light, you can follow the exposure combination given by the light meter in the camera, that is, the exposure does not need to be added or subtracted according to the average value.

2. Focus selection.

A group photo of dozens or even hundreds of people, usually in several rows, several meters or more away from the camera. The group photo requires that every participant is clearly photographed, so where should the focus be? Where is the place? Some people adjust the focus to the middle row. This method is not very reliable. If the magnification is small and the magnification is high, some rows will not be clear. The best way is to use hyperfocal distance or area focusing. Hyperfocal distance can focus a certain distance. Outside the range, any object that is not in focus can be captured clearly. The method is to use the depth of field ruler on the lens to align the predetermined aperture value on the right side of the lens with the infinity symbol, and the corresponding aperture value on the left corresponds to the distance, that is to say, from this distance to infinity, you can Photograph clearly. Generally speaking, the clear range before the focus is shorter than the clear range after the focus. For example: when taking a group photo, if there are five rows of people, the focus should be on the middle person in the second row, so that It can make more effective use of the depth of foreground and rear depth of field to take group photos with clear front and back.

3. Choice of light. When taking a group photo of dozens or hundreds of people, exposure is particularly important. It is better to take a group photo with soft natural light, and try to avoid direct sunlight and backlighting. The time should be chosen between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Do not take photos under the shade of trees to prevent stained faces.

4. Composition method. The composition layout of a group photo requires that the upper part be wider and the lower part be narrower to leave space for the sky and the lower part, and a little room be left for the left and right sides to fill the picture as much as possible. In addition, scheduling is also an important issue. Generally, tall people are arranged in the middle, short people are arranged in the front, and the people in the back are preferably one head higher than the front row. In addition, take several negatives and choose the best ones.

5. You should concentrate when taking pictures. Before shooting, check to see if there is any situation in the queue where the front row blocks the back row. If so, you should adjust the position. Raise your hand before pressing the shutter button to remind everyone to pay attention and avoid eyes closing or shaking. In addition, when taking group photos for the first time, you should avoid nervousness and focus on accurate exposure, precise focus and composition. Otherwise, any small mistakes and mistakes will cause irreparable losses, because most group photos cannot be retaken. of.

In order to present a shocking group photo, all the author’s emotions need to be poured into it, so that it can be conveyed to people through the image. During the shooting process, excellent authors will express "human" emotions, and the portraits must be alive and real. Only in this way can we infect and move people. When shooting portraits, we must fully explore the inner or outer beauty of the subject and mobilize all the emotions of the character. We often encounter this situation. The character is beautiful and vivid, but when the camera is focused on him, all of this disappears. His muscles are stiff and his expression is tense. At this time, we should talk to him easily so that the person being photographed can relax and forget that he is taking a picture. Only in this way can the photos taken have the basis to move others.

I believe that as long as we put our own emotions into every work, such works will be the wonderful moments we want.