Dmac62x wrote:.

I will ATTEMPT to take a 100 person group photo 5pm Saturday. Thehotel is small so the outdoor pool is my best option. I'm rentinga wide angle lens for my Canon 30D & using an 8ft ladder..

What is wide? Meaning what is the wide angle lens you are thinking of renting?.

If you plan to shoot down from the ladder, amke sure the people are not staring directly into the sun ... squinting will look bad in the final image. Light somewhat from the side is better..

I plan toget take lots of shots in RAW at ISO 100 at a wide apeture so itwill be sharp. I have been advised to focus toward the middle ofthe crowd..

You will need time to (post) process RAW. Might not be the best option if you are trying to create and sell images "on site"..

If you go for about 15 people per row in ~6 rows you should be getting the coverage you need..

Take many pictures and try different arrangements of the people. One way to avoid people to have their eyes closed on the picture is to ask everyone to close the eyes and then to open it on the count of 3. (calculated some delay, otherwise everybody will have their eyes closed).

Last not least, wide angle lenses have a very high DOF (depth of field), you need to worry very little about the rows to be in focus front to back. To be save set your camera to Av and select F8 as your aperture (if the lighting permits, you can go higher on the aperture scale, i.e. F11). With the 30D you can alos use a feature called Auto DOF that selects the correct aperture to have most of the picture in focus..

They want to buy prints on-site so I.ve bought an R1800. I don'twant to mess this up so any advice will be GREATLY appreciated...

Raw is the best option..

The main problem with ~100 people will be getting 'em all in and looking the right way.take quite a few shots..

The ladder is a great idea. Be sure to find a way to hold the camera real steady..

Focus carefully. DoF is identical for each lens/distance and with 100 people you need as correct a focus as possible.f8 at least.relax.ThanksAndy.

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C'est La vie..

RE>I plan to get take lots of shots in RAW at ISO 100 at a wide apeture so it will be sharp. I have been advised to focus toward the middle of the crowd. <.

Maybe you sepak a different language than most photographers, but anyway....

A wide aperture provides the least depth of field, amking it more likely that people will be out of focus..

You want a small aperture..

Are you shotting raw becaue you expect to get it wrong, and then want to fix your mistakes? Or is there another reason?.

You'd be better off to get the shot right in the first place, with JPEG, if you want to try to get pictures printed and sold to dozens of people..

Why ISO 100? This limits your shutter speed and your aperture, providing limited depth of field and the likelyhood of both camera movement and subject movement, especially if the people are in the shade. Depending on the camera, ISO 200 is just as good, and 400 is probably good enough..

How big are your prints? Your Canon 30D will provide a full frame print of 8x12 inches (or 4x6 inches). If you are printing on 8.5 x 11 paper, the imgae willnot fit on the full sheet.. Similarly, if you are printing on 8x10 paper, you'll chop off two inches worth opf people from the ends of the frames. Therefore, plan the framing carefully befor you shoot..

The "middle of the crowd" advice is good. Generally, depth of field ranges from about 1/3 in front of the focus point to 2/3 behind, so focussing in the middle is close enough..

That said, it is important to keep the group shallow enough that focus extends from front row to back. Since you'll have a computer there with you for the printing, why not run some pre-assembly tests so you know that at, say, f11, you are in focus from the bech near the camera to the rocks at the side of the pool where you'll place a dozen people..

LEADERS? If the group has leaders, remember to put then in a cluster in the front middle..

The ladder is a good idea, but be careful, be safe, and don't get up too high. I like to rest my elbows on the top step, using my forearms and body as sort of a tripod. So far, I've never fallen off..

Shade and shadows it's really too easy to get caught up in the organization and not notice that some of the group is in shadow while the rest are not, or some are in the sahde of a tree, ... this makes for too much post processing..

Good luck..

BAK..

Dmac62x wrote:.

I will ATTEMPT to take a 100 person group photo 5pm Saturday. Thehotel is small so the outdoor pool is my best option. I'm rentinga wide angle lens for my Canon 30D & using an 8ft ladder. I plan toget take lots of shots in RAW at ISO 100 at a wide apeture so itwill be sharp. I have been advised to focus toward the middle ofthe crowd..

How wide will the shot be? How far back will you be?.

Figure about 2ft per person, 6 feet tall + 2 feet for each additional row. If you stack them in 6 rows that's about 30 feet wide by 16 feet high..

So how wide of a lens will you need? focal length / sensor size = subject distance / subject size. Rewriting this, and using a sensor size of 22.5mm (i.e. sensor width), we get:.

Focal length = 22.5mm * distance / width.

Assuming 20 foot distance and 30 feet width that gives 15mm. Definitely 10-22mm territory..

A few more things. Remember your intended output size. If you are shooting for 8x10, shoot wider, you will have to crop the sides..

Watch your foreground and background. Unlike most individual portraits, they will be in sharp focus. Depending on the output size and how many rows you have, you might have a lot of foreground and background in the picture. Try to minimize it, of course..

Stagger the rows so people aren't hiding behind each other. Try to make the front row the longest, and top row the shortest. Not a lot shorter, BTW, you probably don't want to shoot a pyramid .

Seen in a fortune cookie:Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed..

I'll be renting a 10-22mm. I think I'll opt to capture RAW and Jpeg. I want the RAW file just to be on the safe side in case I have to do some touch-up...

Thanks for the correction. For some reason I always mis-speak when I refer to the wide and narrow apeture. I wanted to shoot in RAW just in case in need to make a quick adjustment. It makes sense to shoot both RAW/JPEG simultaneously - no sense wasting time processing if the image is good out of the camera...

Very cool!! I can't wait to play with this...

No advice on photography, but I've seen this used successfully for large crowd shots. A bunch of cheap white paper plates and thick markers. Each pre-numbered with large numbers, so they can be read in a photo. Handed out to the individuals as they line up. They are asked each to:a) Write their name (& any other appropriate info) in the back..

B) Hold up the plates in front of their face (thus hiding the face) with the number toward the camera.c) "click"d) Hide the plates (or have then quickly collected by an assistant)e) "click" the group.You now have everyone's number (thus name) in front of their face, in a photo.RUcrAZ.

P.s. after holding up the plates to their face, nearly everyone is in a good humor and smiling...

If you're using a 30D, don't be afraid to say 'Cheese' (if the situation permits, 'Hot Bunny Love/Sex' works well, too) or do the countdown thing, then let the motordrive churn away for 5 or 6 shots - that will almost guarantee you one good photo. Assuming that the lighting is up to the task, of course..

Let us know how you get on. With the picture, not the bunnies... (c;Rob.

Everyone, everywhere, has to do everything they do a first time. There is no failure in failure, only in failing to learn...