Crowd control

Groups photos are stressful events. It's crucial that a photographer master the technical and crowd control skills so that the stress becomes instead a creative buzz.

This photo for Sound Transit is one I've done before, so I knew where I wanted to be and how to light the hall. Even though this looks like a well lit space (and it is), the primary light is from the rear of the hall. Anyone facing me is going to be the darkest thing in the frame.

I like to light so that it doesn't look like I used lights. Mainly, I only wanted enough light to match the ambient. This was going to be a large group I was photographing, and I didn't want a lot of light falloff from front to back. The trick to lighting a deep crowd is to feather the light. You can see below that my light boxes are aimed upward. This way the people in the front of the crowd get roughly the same light on them as those 10 or 15 feet back. I spent about half an hour with a light meter, walking the space, and adjusting the angle and intensity of my three lights. My goal was to have no more than a half stop falloff from front to back.

I clamped the camera to the ladder, and checked the Pocket Wizard sync again and again.  I had my  client walk the space while I looked through the viewfinder, and I put gaffer tape on the floor to mark the front and corner edges of where I wanted my crowd. I noticed that the ladder and the arm had a lot of movement memory when I touched anything, so I attached a cable release. My final exposure was 1/10 at f/8, ISO 400. I put the focus on manual to about mid-hall.

I was finished an hour ahead of time, which gave me time to ponder what else could go wrong and how I could make it more complicated. I decided I wanted a few exposures with another lens (a fisheye), and put a pouch on my belt so I could change it up on the ladder. In that hour, the hall grew brighter by a half stop, so I adjusted for that.

The meeting broke up, and staff poured into the hall for the Photo Event. I had people ready to organize the group, and I had them squish and move them about so that they more or less fit my marks on the floor. It was a larger crowd than I expected, and I suddenly felt the need to raise the camera a foot. I think I was feeling too under control and I needed to raise my stress level. I leveled the camera again, and people were ready.

When you have a large group at your command, you need to be commanding. I shouted encouraging and commanding things to them, and we got a pumping arms-up-in-celebration thing going. It felt good, and I only took 10 or so frames. I really like to work through groups quickly—I want that initial energetic look, which you will never find on frame 40.

Then I decided to change lenses. Slowly, as though I had all the time in the world, I peeled one lens off, put on the fisheye, and capped and stowed the 17-35. The camera was dead. Again, as if I had all the time in the world, I checked the power, reset the lens, tried again. In this circumstance, you really have to be only in the world of the camera, and not in the world of 300 people watching you work. The third time I peeled off the lens and reset it, it worked. I pulled a few more exposures to make sure it did. “OK everyone, One!” Flash. “Two!” Flash. “Three!” Flash. “Last one, yeah!” Flash.

Comments

[Bruce Nall]

What is it about group shots and camera issues? The only time I had a battery quit mid-shoot was on the first frame of a large group shot. Pushed the button and heard that awful sound a Nikon makes when there is not quite enough power to fully reset the mirror. Used the old joke “maybe I should load some film” trying to remember how to use the one manual shutter setting Nikon included for this type of emergency. Be one with the camera and never let them see you panic!

[romanlily]

Thanks for this write-up. I saw this image in your daily photo, and was impressed with the quality of the shot (especially the even, natural-looking lighting). Glad to get a peek at how you pulled it off.