- 50mm
- Natural Light
- M&S
- Melli & Shayne
- Melli and Shayne
- Mid range
- Middle Thirds
- Movement
- Outdoor
- Jokes
- Playful
- Prime Lens
- Shade
- Soft Light
- Walking
- Walking towards Camera
- Laughing
- Group
- 5d mark iv
- Drunk
- 6 person group
- afternoon
- Canon
- Canon 5D mark IV
- Center Framed
- Close Up group
- Energetic
- Groomsmen
- Forest
- Free
- Fun
- Funny
- Germany
- Groom
- Wedding
The story behind the image
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Have your group of guys get put the arms over each others shoulders, like buddies and walk towards you. Keep the movement going and encourage them to tease and joke with each other. A good trick to get them off to a good start is to tell them to pretend like they had a bit too many drinks. The drunk guy walk. Tell them to relive their bachelor night and have fun with it. Even ask one of the group members to make the group laugh, or tease each other.
What did you say?
Put your arms over each other like good mates and walk towards me! Bump into each other, tease each other, and do a drunk walk! Just like on the bachelor party!
Composition
For this shot we wanted to get real close to our group as they were having such a great time with each other. By being this close and framing their top halves in the image, we can really bring an emphasis to their laughter, to their good moment and to their friendship. Don’t be afraid to frame close up and only get their top half. It fills the image with energy and emotion.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We often have our group on the same focal plain which helps ensure all of the members are focused. It was no different in this case. We used Single Point AF as we had much more control as to where we wanted that focus to go. We aimed it at our groom and kept it positioned there as best as we could.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Grooms face
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/500 @ f/2.0 ISO1000 WB-Auto
The way the EXIF is written out follows the common photographic method (with the inclusion of White Balance at the end). Here it is broken down:
Shutter Speed @ Aperture ISO White Balance.
Light & Weather
Fortunately the forest was quite dense which helped create enough shade for us to shoot the group photos. There definitely were patches of light everywhere, so we paid careful attention to avoid it as best as we could. Weather wise, it was pretty clear at this moment. It was a couple of hours before a storm formed.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Afternoon
Weather
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
The edits are made to be warmer with a big focus on skin tones and light play with shadows and highlights. A few minor local adjustments were made (Gradient and Brush) as well as finishing off with a fine layer of grain. The whites are not blown out nor are the blacks 100% crunched.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
Our challenge with this group photo was avoiding the light patches that came through the trees. It’s something that you can easily overlook and if you have exposed for the subjects in the shade, and someone walks into that patch of light, theres a good chance they are going to be over exposed / blown out.
The second challenge was keeping the guys under control ? If you give a bunch of guys the job of having fun with the groom, they will. And they will do it awesomely!
Solutions
Between the shots we kept looking for those patches of light on the ground and pointed them out to the group and asked them to try and avoid it. As for keeping the dudes chill, we just let them have a great time and then congratulated them once we got our shots and kept things still tame.
Remember, a group photo can live and breath off of your own energy as the photographer. If you’re all excited, happy and throwing in jokes – they will respond to it. Vice versa, if you relax a bit, they normally pick up on that and adopt it.
Location
Location Name
Faber-Castell Waldhütte
Location aDDRESS
Faber-Castell Waldhütte Faberhof 1, 90596 Schwanstetten
Loation Type
Forest
Country
Germany
Don’t be afraid to get one of the guys to be the “funny” guy. There is always one. Have them take charge and make everyone laugh. Even ask them to bump into each other or pretend they had one too many drinks. The idea is to get them all having a good time and being themselves. Another tip would be to absolutely try out a 50mm lens for group photos. The compression is just to die for. But just make sure you have enough room to capture the group full body as well.
