X100 group shot

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Sorry for the late response Eric. At the end I did not have to take photos of them,a few had a cold. But your tips came out usefull the next day. I took a few casual shots of my mogher in law and my kids and ive played around with focus and apperture. The shots came out sharp, and since i've used burst shooting i got a few keepers. Oh and I did use the flash. It came out ok.

Thank you once again for the reply.

Neven

Miskec wrote:

Hi all!

I was asked to take a few quick groupshots of kindergarten kids and their theachers. Total number of people in the photo will be no more than 15. I will be using only my x100 and i will shoot in the backyard. I am looking for usefull tips.

Time of day to shoot?

Any time that there is enough light, but without harsh contrast - definitely avoid midday sun or you're going to have deep shadows to sort in post, best to avoid this. An overcast sky with bright, but diffuse light would be ideal.

Shoot with sun in the background or not?

Unless you've got a good light source in foreground and/or you want to intentionally blow out the background, I would avoid this.

Shoud I stand on a stool or step to be slightly above them?

It might not be a bad idea to minimize shadows, but I'd probably want to keep any peripheral lines in the composition vertical.

Which F number to use?

It depends on subject distance, but I'd likely go f/5.6 - f/8 for the good sharpness and plenty of DOF.

If people stand in 4 rows, on which row do I focus?

If I was using AF, probably the second one (there is typically a bit more DOF behind the focus point than in front of it. To be safe, I'd almost certainly flip to MF mode with Focus Peaking on (I like Blue/Low) and dial in the maximum peaking indication for all your subjects (MF operates automatically wide open at f/2 for best critical focus indication, but will shoot at the desired f/5.6-f/8). Avoid standing in too close - better to be at a distance for greater DOF, and a more natural perspective. it's OK to leave a bit of space at the edges and crop a little, 23mm can look a little fishbowly if you're too close.

I think built in flash on x100 is too weak?

I really dislike the direct flash look and would likely avoid it even if it wasn't too weak. I'd much rather balance the light in post with a RAW file. I'm sure some folks will tell you to add some fill flash, but it almost never looks better, IMO. YMMV.

I am so worried every time I need to take a photo off a group so please help.

Don't worry about it, take a bunch of shots with a bit more and less exposure if you aren't sure. Short bursts are a good idea to (hopefully) get one with everyone's eyes all open at the same time (and the means to fix that if they aren't).

Thank you

No problemo, I'm no portrait expert by any stretch, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but it's what I'd do. Good luck.

Erik

Night Pixel wrote:

Mullins shoots documentary weddings with an X100 and XPRO. He has some nice tutorials on shooting groups etc here .

Thank you. Mullins is one of best Fujifilm ambassadors. I set up my camera to his recipe.

Neven

a_c_skinner wrote:

Miskec wrote:

Time of day to shoot?

When the light is good

Ok.

Shoot with sun in the background or not?

Sun behind the photographer

Got it.

Shoud I stand on a stool or step to be slightly above them?

Yes, it will make it look as if you know what you are doing, unless you fall off it.

I'll better stand on the ground

Which F number to use?

f8, shutter speed 1/125 or faster. ISO to suit the light

Thanks.

If people stand in 4 rows, on which row do I focus?

Four rows might be too much. You need each row to be a bit higher so I'd go for kids sitting, kids standing, adults behind. Focus on the middle row

Got it.

I think built in flash on x100 is too weak?

No, it will be spot on, just a bit of fill

I am so worried every time I need

Super, i will try with and without it.

Take one adult to the location and practice to get the settings right as if you had a full group. You can judge the lighting etc with just one person and imagine the rest.

Your real issue will be getting the kids to look at you, behave and so on. Put one of the teachers to making sure the kids are tidy. Check surroundings for litter etc. Check the background carefully on the practice shots.

When i will do the actual shoot it will be difficult. It is a kgarten for kids with special needs. They do not stand stll very much. It will be challenging.

Get the plan sorted and get the kids arranged quickly and efficiently.

-- hide signature --

Andrew Skinner

Thank your for the usefull tips

Neven

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Any time that there is enough light, but without harsh contrast - definitely avoid midday sun or you're going to have deep shadows to sort in post, best to avoid this. An overcast sky with bright, but diffuse light would be ideal.

Unless you've got a good light source in foreground and/or you want to intentionally blow out the background, I would avoid this.

And shoot RAW+JPG. As long as there's no significant clipping, most harshness due to high DR can be compressed/resolved with RAW.

Besides, you can't be sure if the camera will get the correct WB, skin tone might be slightly off. Having the RAW will save the day.

It depends on subject distance, but I'd likely go f/5.6 - f/8 for the good sharpness and plenty of DOF.

Yes! I had f/5.6 or f/6.4 for 4 rows

Don't worry about it, take a bunch of shots with a bit more and less exposure if you aren't sure. Short bursts are a good idea to (hopefully) get one with everyone's eyes all open at the same time (and the means to fix that if they aren't).

Yes. Take a lot to be on the safe side. If people don't move too much in between shots, it's relatively easy to use Hugin with masks to merge the eyes/faces from multiple shots.

An example: the stage light wasn't even, very bright in the middle while it's relative dark around, the RAW was much easier to process than JPG.

SOOC preview extracted from RAF

from RAF processed in darktable

sluggy_warrior wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Any time that there is enough light, but without harsh contrast - definitely avoid midday sun or you're going to have deep shadows to sort in post, best to avoid this. An overcast sky with bright, but diffuse light would be ideal.

Unless you've got a good light source in foreground and/or you want to intentionally blow out the background, I would avoid this.

And shoot RAW+JPG. As long as there's no significant clipping, most harshness due to high DR can be compressed/resolved with RAW.

Besides, you can't be sure if the camera will get the correct WB, skin tone might be slightly off. Having the RAW will save the day.

It depends on subject distance, but I'd likely go f/5.6 - f/8 for the good sharpness and plenty of DOF.

Yes! I had f/5.6 or f/6.4 for 4 rows

Don't worry about it, take a bunch of shots with a bit more and less exposure if you aren't sure. Short bursts are a good idea to (hopefully) get one with everyone's eyes all open at the same time (and the means to fix that if they aren't).

Yes. Take a lot to be on the safe side. If people don't move too much in between shots, it's relatively easy to use Hugin with masks to merge the eyes/faces from multiple shots.

An example: the stage light wasn't even, very bright in the middle while it's relative dark around, the RAW was much easier to process than JPG.

SOOC preview extracted from RAF

from RAF processed in darktable

Very nice. In this particulary photo where exactly is your focus point?

Neven

Miskec wrote:

Very nice. In this particulary photo where exactly is your focus point?

I think it was the girl with pink wig/hair in the middle.

My reasoning was: even if I don't have enough DoF, the faces in front row are of slightly larger sizes, there should be enough details even if they're not in focus. The people in the back have smaller faces, so they should have more focus/sharpness.

I was shooting from slightly higher than the stage, trying to have the focal plane parallel to the front-to-back plane (the plane of all faces).

Another advantage of the RAF is the flexible sharpening. I ran the export through RL-deconvolution (50 iterations), which is very good at deblurring, but it's an intensive process not meant for in-camera processing.

https://gmic.eu/reference/deblur_richardsonlucy.html

Also, depending on the lens, you'll need to balance between resolution vs corner/edge sharpness. If I shoot with the 18-55 for example, I'd not frame people too close to the edges because of distortion and softness, thus people would have smaller faces (in terms of pixels). For this shot, the 50-140 is excellent across the frame so I was able to zoom in tightly to maximize the pixel count.