How to Take Group Photos at a Family Reunion

This weekend we had the pleasure of attending an amazing family reunion with 160 people! It was wonderful to have the opportunity to put our tips on taking photos at a family reunion into practice. Luckily, we had the fantastic photography skills of Uncle Dan to ensure some great group shots.

Dan is a nature photographer by hobby, but had the right equipment to capture the group shots at this event – a Nikon D300 with a 24mm lens. The lens was key because although his old-school, manual focus lens was 24mm on a film SLR camera, it was about 35mm on a DSLR. My trusty 50mm lens just wouldn’t cut it. I would’ve had to stand about 100 yards away to capture a group that big.

Here are a few lessons we took away from the experience:

1. Plan the key group shots before the event – including who will be in the photos
2. Assign one person to organize the group shots ahead of time
3. Let it be known that one person will be taking the group photos and everyone will receive a digital copy
4. Scope out the venue for good lighting and posing locations as soon as you arrive at the reunion

In our case, the event was color coordinated by generation of family. This made it very easy to say, “everyone with an orange name tag needs to join the photo now.” The key shots were determined before the event, and one person (not the photographer) was assigned to gather people for photos.

Limiting the group photography to one camera ensured that everyone was looking in the right direction when the shutter was snapped. It also prevented the last minute, “can you take one with my camera too”? The group shots, as well as, everyone’s own photos and videos are being uploaded to a custom guest uploads project at Storymix Media. This ensures that everyone will be able to download their own full resolution copies of everyone else’s photos and video, without having to register and without having to email them.

Another advantage to limiting who took the group shots is that we didn’t have to try to find a location with perfect lighting. A DSLR camera with a good wide angle lens is able to capture a great photo in places that a point and shoot camera would never work.

That brings us to the fourth point – scoping out the location. By limiting the camera to just the DSLR we were able to take the photo inside the pavilion on a bright sunny day. Had we taken the photo outside in the sun, point and shoot cameras would have been able to get a good shot, but all the people would have been sharply squinting. And why can’t point and shoot cameras take a good photo indoors with a bright background? Because the camera would automatically compensate for the brightness behind the people and shroud them in darkness.

Notice how overexposed the red truck and barn next door appear? A point and shoot would have compensated for this. There are ways around this, however. If all you have is a point and shoot camera, aim it at the floor, your arm, the ceiling, anything but the bright area in the background. Then hold the shutter button down halfway. While still holding the shutter button, recompose the shot. Then press the button down all the way. The photo should then have close to the proper exposure.

Following these tips enabled us to capture photos of 4 generations of family, one generation at a time, in only 20 minutes! The kind, elderly patriarchs and matriarchs of the family did not have to sit uncomfortably in the sun for 1 1/2 hours while the shots were set up, nor while 100 individual cameras took the exact same shot.