Control the Focus Field

Adjust the Camera Angle. With large groups, raising the camera height and angling the camera downward keeps the film plane more parallel to the plane of the group’s faces. Doing this does not change the depth of field, but it optimizes the plane of focus to accommodate the depth of the group. This makes it possible to get both the front and back rows in focus.

Marc Weisberg is a perfectionist, but when you see images like this, you know why. “It was late in the day and we were losing sun,” he recalls. “The shadows are actually from my trusty Quantum flash, mounted with a quick release plate on a Bogen tripod at camera left. Instead of using a light meter, which I use now for my large group portraits, I used my more expensive light meter. My Canon 1-D set to manual. I dialed in the exposure while looking [at the meter scale] through the viewfinder. I shot a Canon “Polaroid” to make sure that my histogram was not clipping the shadows or highlights. Then I set my Quantum flash one stop under and metered the flash output with my Sekonic L508 light meter. Pocket Wizards were used to trigger my Quantum flash.”

After the shoot, Weisberg added a few enhancements. “The saturation was selectively bumped up with the saturation tool in Photoshop,” he says. ”The LucisArt filter was also used. Since this filter wreaks havoc on the skin, a mask was created so that I could selectively apply the effects to the dress, bringing out the delicate folds, and to the shoes and tuxedos, to bring out the highlights better. I also used the LucisArt filter with a mask to bring out texture details in the walls, terra cotta tiles, and plants.”

Adjust the Subject Distance. If your subjects are in a straight line, those at the ends of the group will be proportionately farther away from the lens than those in the middle of the lineup (unless you are working at a great distance from the subjects). As a result, those farthest from the lens will be difficult to keep in focus. The solution is to bend the group, having the middle of the group step back and the ends of the group step forward so that all of the people are at the same relative distance to the camera. To the camera, the group will still look like a straight line, but by distorting the plane of sharpness you will be able to accommodate the entire group.