> 5 minute read

Creating Great Group Photos

Group photos are great fun to make when you’re together with your friends, and a few tips and tricks can help you get pictures that everyone will love for years to come.

There’s something about group photographs that creates a special emotional attachment. You’ll find them pinned to refrigerators with magnets, in frames on office desks, and in family albums right across the country. Such is the emotional resonance of the group image that even the bad ones can occupy a special place in our hearts. The horizon might be on a slope, the lighting might be too harsh, and two people might have their eyes closed, but such images still remind of us of good times, when family and friends were together. They are the starting point for conversations and memories. So just think how powerful they could be with some photographic skill added, too.

There are a few golden rules for creating group photos, and some hints and tips that will help you in particularly difficult scenarios. Let’s have a look at how it’s done.

Finding the Right Location

The first thing to consider about any group image is where to make it. The perfect location simply may not be available, but if you can check a few of these boxes, then you’ll be well on the way to getting a great result.

• As with other types of portraiture, you’ll get the best results in the shade or during the evening light of the ‘golden hour’. The problem with full-on midday sunshine is that your subjects will squint when they look into it and it will cast ugly shadows across their faces. Make images on an overcast day or in the shade and your subjects will thank you for it.
• While it’s nice to include some of the location in the image, so you can remember where you all were, don’t choose a background that’s too detailed, or it will be distracting and pull attention away from your subjects. Use a wide aperture (small F number such as F3.5 or F4) to blur the background, too – it will emphasise the people in the foreground.

Posing and Positioning

Ask a bunch of friends if they’d like to make a group photo and they’ll shout an enthusiastic ‘Yeah!’ then jump up and self-assemble into a straight line, with their arms around one another like a sports team. But we can do better than this: think about the kind of group photos you see in celebrity magazines, where people are sitting, standing, and even lying on the floor in order to mix up the composition.

Vary the height in your group by asking some people to stand and others to sit – on benches, boxes, camping chairs… anything you can find. Also, take advantage of the natural variation in your subjects’ height – taller people can see over the heads of shorter folks (or those sitting down) in front of them.

Also watch for how the horizon is interacting with your subjects. Make sure it’s not cutting through heads. It’s much better to compose the image from below so their heads are against the sky, or work from above by standing on something tall. Or shift position so the horizon isn’t visible at all.

Communication

It’s important to be confident and clear when you’re directing your group, but avoid the temptation to be bossy – it will just get people looking stressed out. Scan left to right to make sure everyone in the group is going to be visible, and ask them if they can see the camera (“If you can’t see it, it can’t see you”).

Small kids can be wriggly, so either give them something to do or sit them on an adult’s lap. You can call their name at the last moment to hopefully get them to look up. You’ll also get younger members of your group on your side if you let them do a silly photo (“Let’s do a serious one first then we can do something daft!”), and do try to be reasonably quick – once everyone is in front of the camera, they will get bored quickly.

Of course, eye contact isn’t always essential. Sometimes photographing a group as they interact with each other can produce great results that look very natural.

Camera Settings

Make bursts of pictures using your camera’s fastest Continuous Shooting mode. Then you can select the best image from among those frames, which should guarantee you a blink-free result.

When it comes to lenses, a natural or slightly wide focal length works best – something like 23mm or 35mm is perfect. Zoom out too far and the wide angle can make people near the edges of the frame look distorted. Equally, zoom in too far and you’ll have to stand back so far that communication will become difficult.

Including Yourself in the Group

Including yourself in a group photo is traditionally done with a ten-second self-timer and a quick run from the camera to your position in the picture. If you’re happy with this method, try doing it with your X Series camera set to continuous shooting mode: it will capture a burst of five frames, maximising your chances of getting an image with everyone’s eyes open.

A better way of doing this, however, is to use the FUJIFILM Camera Remote app on your smartphone. This will let you see what’s in the frame from your position in the group and you can release the shutter at just the right time. Count everyone down to the moment you make the first frame, then make a few frames with a burst.

Your Next Steps

• CHALLENGE Try using some of these tips and tricks next time you need to take a group shot. Post your favourite image to social media with the hashtag #learnwithfujifilm. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.