Can you give me advice of how to take group picture of 500 people?
1) Where to set the focus.
2) Which lens to use?
3) Shutter speed setting.
4) Fill flash under sunlight?
Thanks.
I posted a reply to this in the Canon SLR newsgroup, but I realize now that the example I gave was a shoot of a different nature to your current dilemma. In that one we basicly used the 450 private school students as a large scale prop in the background for the smaller grouping in the foreground who were the actual focus of the shot. Here you want everyone recognizable and I have to agree with the last poster that it's not likely that will happen.
I assume from the way you phrased your question ... you didn't ask for advice on which format to use etc. ... that you're most comfortable with 35mm or it's digital equivalent. Therefore all the advice you've recieved on renting large format equipment, studio strobes etc., while well meant, is kind of irrelevant to the situation, and along with the forklift/cherry picker suggestions, way beyond your modest budget.
So you've got 500 people, no budget and a church as a background.
Have you thought about shooting it inside?
Assuming your church has a balcony, the capacity and half decent lighting... you could set yourself up in the first row of the balcony, everyone stands in rows in the pews facing to the back of the church ( the pews will help to naturallly organize and space the crowd) the overflow can go in the choir pews, center aisle, sides and up by the altar.
I would contradict my previous advice and recomend that you shoot a panorama, camera in portrait orientation, from that position. This way you could swing around to get the first couple rows of the balcony in the shot, and in these first few rows close to the camera you could position the reverend/priest/preacher/main religous guy and some of the elders or key members of the congregation. It should be entirely possible to light them with an off-camera 480 EX, blended in with the existing light exposure of course ... they'll only be about 10 ft. away from you ... then turn the flash off for the remainder of the existing light exposures of the congregation as you rotate around.
You'll have a good sense of depth to the photo with the people close to the camera, the church altar and, presumably, stained glass windows will make a great background, the pews will make it a breeze to organize people in rows, you'll be using a format you're comfortable with, and no rentals, fork-lifts or any other nonsense. Plus you can do the shot even if it rains on the day, and the added benefit is you can do a dry run to see what it's going to look like this Sunday... which is more than can be said of the idea of shooting everyone outside.
Suggestions:
Distribute a notice to the congregation on the weeks leading up to the shooting date that outlines in simple terms the requirements for shooting panoramas, noting that because of the necessary overlap in the images and the long exposure, everyone must remain very still during the taking of the photo including, and this is important, the people who are out of any given shot being taken. Even if the camera is not directly pointing at them they must remain still because 500 people are easily distracted.
Never shot a panorama before? Buy MGI's PhotoVista. Won't take more than a few tries to get the hang of it. Very easy to use. ( Church should foot the expense)
Shoot film not digital to get around multiplier effect and when shooting use the longest focal length that will provide coverage for the shot. Remember wide angle lenses distort distances. If you shoot with a 20mm, people 30 ft. away are going to look like they are 60 ft. away or more. I once shot a Siberian Tiger for a car promo while inching my way along at ground level with a 20mm lens. After the trainer warned me I was too close I took the camera away from my eye and nearly had a heart attack. Although it looked like a safe distance through the lens I was actually only about 6 ft. in front of a full grown tiger, lying there prone on the ground like a tempting little canape. Good thing he must have thought that anyone that stupid couldn't possible taste good as well
Talk to them about possibly shooting in B&W, and if they go for that look into Kodak Tech Pan film. It's slow but has amazing resolution. Haven't shot it in years so I'm not even sure if it's still on the market. Check with local labs to make sure they can process it as well before proceeding. I would still shoot with a second body loaded with colour film as well if you go the B&W route.
Have the negs scanned to a five tier photo CD. Do the stitch ( hope you lots of RAM) Take the panorama file to a digital lab and have a 4x5 digital interneg done then run c-prints off that.
Work on ratcheting back expectations. Not all 500 people will be recognizable any way you do it.
Good luck, let us see the final result,
Doug Brown
Torontowide.com
