Shooting candid group pictures: Timing is everything.
Candid Group Photos: Time the Action
One
of the followers of this blog wrote and asked for some tips about
shooting group photos. In the next few days I'll go through my files
and see if I can come up with a good "posed" group portrait to write
about, but in the meantime I came across this candid (obviously!) shot
taken at Mystic Aquarium and thought it illustrated a good point about candid group shots: choose your moments carefully.
I
had been watching this small group of people interacting with a Beluga
whale and thought it would make a great shot provided I could get
everyone--including the whale--to look attractive and do something
interesting at the exact same moment. Considering that I didn't know
any of the people and the whale probably wasn't going to pose for me,
it was a tough situation. Every time that I had the whale in place, one
of the people would step in front of someone else or just make an
awkward gesture, etc. And when the people were looking good, the whale
was no where to be found.
I finally decided that the best thing
to do was just be patient and wait for the shot with the exposure and
focus set in the manual modes. I had the lens in the manual-focus mode
so that I could prefocus on the whale during a trial exposure since he
kept surfacing (at the commands of the trainer--the woman on the left)
in the precise same spot. I set the camera down on a flat rock surface
(at the edge of the pool) with the people pre-framed where I wanted
them and I tried to look at the scene through my viewfinder as little
as possible and just watch the scene with my naked eye and fire when
the shot moment looked good. If I could have the camera on a tripod
(not allowed there) I would have.
There are a few reasons for
using your naked eye instead of constantly peering through the
viewfinder (it was too bright to use an LCD, even if my DSLR had had
Live View and it didn't). For one, you can see things that you can't
see through the viewfinder--like the whale underwater, about to break
through the surface. And also, you're more in touch with the moment
when you're not stuck behind the camera. I tried to watch the scene
like a cinematographer, just waiting for the best moment and it worked.
This
technique can work at home or family picnics, too. Even if you're
photographing your kids on the swings in the backyard, for example, if
you set the camera on a tripod and pre-frame the scene, you can just
talk to your kids face to face and use a cable release or a remote (I
was using a cordless remote--$15 from Nikon) to fire the camera. With
the focus and exposure on automatic (I often use the Program mode for
shots like this), all you have to do is watch, wait and shoot.
Kids photographed on the beach in Titusville, Florida. I waited until all three kids were in a significant gesutre before shooting. The photo was edited in Photoshop to create a watercolor look.
Entire Site Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Wignall
An Ambitious Dogs Production In Association with Boo Boo & Mama Cat Films Please also visit my Photo Tip of the Day blog.
