Large group shot in small space

GadgetRick

So I just was signed to shoot a TKD school in about a month. Standard individual photos. They also would like a photo of all of the students in the school (about 100 students). Problem is, their school (physically) is no terribly large. I discussed this with them letting them know this is going to be a problem.

The school is shaped like an, "L". It's about 20ish feet wide and the long part is maybe 40ish feet long.

Any suggestions on how to do something like this? I'm scratching my head on this one...

aj986s

I can see how a wide angle lens might work, but distortion could become an issue. Might be able to reduce some of the distortion in post-processing with CS5 or other competent software. Another option would be to try and stack the students several rows high, to get more faces/people into less horizontal space. Also I wonder if it might be possible to do a series of shots into a panorama. Maybe create some break lines/zones between the individual shots. Alternatively, to avoid obvious open gaps, see how still people might be able to stay between two adjacent shots, and use masking in PP to show only one face at the seam. A simple background would facilitate greatly. I think a panorama series of shots would be an interesting challenge.

Jane B.

Is the school in a larger building or a free standing building? What is the neighborhood like? I am thinking of doing the group shot outside. That is what a local pro has done with a number of high school class reunions here (that is move outside the building where the reunion is being held) with the wall of the building as the background.

GadgetRick

Jane B. wrote: »

Is the school in a larger building or a free standing building? What is the neighborhood like? I am thinking of doing the group shot outside. That is what a local pro has done with a number of high school class reunions here (that is move outside the building where the reunion is being held) with the wall of the building as the background.

Great idea, unfortunately, I already thought of that and it's in a larger building but it's individual stores, etc. Outside is not an option either as they don't even have a large parking lot.

GadgetRick

aj986s wrote: »

I can see how a wide angle lens might work, but distortion could become an issue. Might be able to reduce some of the distortion in post-processing with CS5 or other competent software. Another option would be to try and stack the students several rows high, to get more faces/people into less horizontal space. Also I wonder if it might be possible to do a series of shots into a panorama. Maybe create some break lines/zones between the individual shots. Alternatively, to avoid obvious open gaps, see how still people might be able to stay between two adjacent shots, and use masking in PP to show only one face at the seam. A simple background would facilitate greatly. I think a panorama series of shots would be an interesting challenge.

Not worried about distortion from a wide angle as that's fairly easy to correct in pp. My concern is physically getting everyone in the shot without it looking ridiculous.

Stacking is the only option but how many rows looks ridiculous?

Panorama is an interesting idea not sure how to pull it off though.

Cuong

Photoshop can merge effortlessly the photos into a pano for you. The trick is to have enough overlap from one photo to the next. Minimize edge distortion by using a focal length equiv to 50mm. Below is a pano I did of about 60 people merged from 3 separate photos (each equiv to 52mm focal length):

The adults can follow directions and hold still for a few seconds while I was panning across the group. If you have kids in the group, you might want to do a few takes just to make sure. You also want to be in an elevated position above the group; use a ladder. Ideally, you'd want the group to form a semicircle around your camera position to minimize size reduction for the people at the far ends.

With this approach, you can also shoot smaller individual groups in the same location, filling the frame with mostly people, then stitch the photos together into a larger photo. HTH.

Cuong

racer

Here is what I am thinking (not sure if this is even possible, if it will even work), use a really wide angle, and get a big ladder and get up as high as you can in the corner of the "L", so you can try to take a shot down both halls at the same time? Have the kids up front stand as close as you can get them, even if they are standing right infront of the ladder, then tell everyone thats not upfront to give themselfs some elbow room from the students around them (so not everyones head is cut off), then have everyone look towards the camera. I dont even know if that would work, but I think it would be totally acceptable if there was distortion in the shot, as long as it had a artistic composition to it.

You could make a technicly perfect, distortion free really long pano of the kids, but that dosnt mean it will look very good, and it will make people stand out that contrast each other (like the guy with the big head in the photo above, makes the head beside him look freakishly small :wow)

PaulT

Do a Google on Drake Busath Big Family.
He gives a tutorial on how he photographed a large group separately on white background.
He then combined the pics in Photoshop into one big family pic. Looks great.

Perhaps you could setup each age group, photograph them in their positions, then combine in photoshop?

David_S85

Could you shoot from a high vantage point downwards towards the group? Distortion from a wide lens might even enhance a shot like that. Andy has an example that he posted once.

EDIT: found it.

GadgetRick

Great suggestions everyone! Thanks.

Yes, I can shoot from higher up (just bring a ladder).

Got me thinking now...

canonthen

We can also shoot them in groups of about 20 with a backdrop and easily put it all together in PS. This would be better than a pano stitch (no distortion).

GadgetRick

canonthen wrote: »

We can also shoot them in groups of about 20 with a backdrop and easily put it all together in PS. This would be better than a pano stitch (no distortion).

We've got to chat about all of this. It's the only challenge I see with this shoot.