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Family photo
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 6:07 pm    Post subject: Family photo Reply with quote
I wish to make old fashioned group photo from my family at Christmas. It will be there a bunch of people in a not too large living room.
Many film camera with almost all focal lengths available. I won't use flash rather I would like to use tripod. What is your suggestion ?

Color film + wide angle lens. Medium format camera or 35mm ?

I am afraid 2x crop DSLR will be not a good choice what I have.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Why not a set with the bounce flash/dslr *and* another with the tripod and film?


PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ludoo wrote:
Why not a set with the bounce flash/dslr *and* another with the tripod and film?


I think I will use pano technic with DSLR and film with tripod and I will make many shoots with flash for sure , but I would like to get better result than simple made with flash.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doing a pano with alive people (hope for you that it's the case Very Happy ) can be risky, the persons can move between pictures..


PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
CarbonR wrote:
Doing a pano with alive people (hope for you that it's the case Very Happy ) can be risky, the persons can move between pictures..
ű

Laughing Laughing exactly


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
How many people in the shot?

I succesfully got a photo of about ten people using just "natural" artificial ambient light in a large room using a 50 mm, 1/25 and ISO 400 (on full frame). Wides tend to distort too much people near the borders of the frame.

You have to shot a lot so to have all the people not doing crazy movements, eyes opened, not silly facial expressions etc, so prepare to use some rolls of film or use digital.

Otherwaty if you want to use a faster shutter time you better bring them all outside in the snow or under a luminous sky Wink

You'll still have closed eyes and so though.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I estimate around 20-30 people. I am think about wide lenses what I have , what you think?


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
If it were me I'd be using my fuji 69 with 65mm. Certainly medium format anyway. That's a lot of people in a small living room, maybe you should take the pic' from outside through the window?


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
20-30 people, very high likelihood of someone having eyes closed = take many shots. Light them from high above, with fill flash. Go wide but leave some space on edges to crop about 5:7 size (edges distort).

Or, if you want to do something crazier: Set up with DSLR and fast 35 to 50mm lens wide open. In post-processing set WB as warm as you can (9000K or more), set tint to red, contrast to minus full, add yellow/orange/red filter and do monochrome sepia conversion. Will lighten up skin tones and give this look:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mureena/4199980113/

Sorry about comparing your family to sake bottle, but it had same tones as skin so it is good for test Very Happy


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
If it was me, I would use a combination of what Alessandro and Xpress
stated above.

I would use the Pentax 645 and the 55 semi-wide lens at f:4 or 5.6,
and as much ambient light as I could find in the home, preferably
from both sides of the subject.

To maximize that light, I would form a "pyramid" with the shorter
people on the ends. In your case, possibly the Pentax 645 and
the Flektogon 50/4 semi-wide could be a great choice.

Also, I would not hesitate to ask everyone to have patience and try
to stay still, and I would load up the 150/3.5 onto the Pentax for
some additional shots, if possible to get far enough away. I think
the slight telephoto of the equivalent 90mm focal length gives
great proportions to people.

I also LOVE the suggestion of a sepia tone similar to the Saki bottle
image. VERY nice. Also, a GREAT suggestion to shoot from outside if
needed. Good thinking!

I had FANTASTIC results from using the Pentax 645 and 150/4 for a
family shot of about 10 people. The enlargement, of course, was
exceptionally clear and clean. I used Portra 400NC and bracketed
to use the whole roll of film. It's a wonderful film for skin tones, and
nice and fast for the ambient light situation.

Try to use f:4 or f:5.6 to get just enough depth of field. Wide open
(about 3.5) just wasn't quite enough.

Bracket of course!

(And...of course now I have the CV Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5 SL....now
THERE'S a possibility as well). Cool

Last edited by Laurence on Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:41 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks useful advice thank you!


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Looks useful advice thank you!


Attila, I was lucky enough to have about 25 feet (7 meters) between
the camera and the subject for the 150 (90mm equivalent). But, I think
your Flek 50 is not too wide to make a huge problem with curvature,
being about equivalent to a 30mm lens. And, of course, we both know
that the Flek 50 is an amazing lens.

Keep a little border to cut off the edges and the stronger curvature. I
think that was mentioned by another poster above.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Many thanks Larry!


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 9:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Definitely medium format, and take many pictures to avoid the annoyance of one person moving during exposure blurring up into a mutant freak (unless they are already a mutant freak ;D). I've shot a couple of family gatherings on black and white 6×6 and 6×9, and overall the success rate was pretty good, and medium format is quite forgiving for slight errors in sharpness, etc. Still, I verified correct exposure settings for the indoor lighting with digital first, so if you do that, might as well take a few digital snapshots as well.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Arkku wrote:
Definitely medium format, and take many pictures to avoid the annoyance of one person moving during exposure blurring up into a mutant freak (unless they are already a mutant freak ;D). I've shot a couple of family gatherings on black and white 6×6 and 6×9, and overall the success rate was pretty good, and medium format is quite forgiving for slight errors in sharpness, etc. Still, I verified correct exposure settings for the indoor lighting with digital first, so if you do that, might as well take a few digital snapshots as well.


Yes, thanks! I willing to do digital shoots as well. Snapshots are important.
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