الجماعات .. الشخصيات .. كيف تلتقط أجمل الصور .. كتاب التصوير الضوئي

Groups .. Characters .. How to take the most beautiful pictures .. The book of photography

Groups

The first group of characters that broke the traditional representation (Night Watch) by Rembrandt.
It did not matter to the great painter if some of the participants were unknown or if some of them refused to pay for the painting. It is necessary to distinguish therefore between traditional groups - where all the characters are known - and the images that give them more freedom and do not care about this less important point.

The members of a group often have something in common and since they are many and the photographer is one, it is difficult to attract everyone's attention at the same time. But the photographer can achieve this by telling a story or asking the participants to sing in a choir. However, if he asks them to look into the lens, this often leads to a frozen expression and dull eyes. Here again, it is not the right time to save film: the more important the group, the more shots must be doubled to get a good picture: in a group of 25 people, twenty-four of them may be smiling while the twenty-fifth person frowns or closes his eyes at the moment the picture is taken.

To get a good return on expressions, you must monitor the nature of the lighting, especially outdoors. For example, the direct sun, if it is strong, will certainly lead to closing the eyelids and to grimaces in people who cannot tolerate strong light. Therefore, the group must be arranged so that they are exposed to indirect lighting. Remember that the vertical sun at midday hollows the eyes and frowns the people's foreheads. The best light outdoors is when the sun is slanted on the horizon or when it is obscured by clouds. When arranging the characters of a classic group, the photographer must strive to place them in a special order: of course, there is a right to the forefront in the way of arranging a school group, members of a musical band or a group at a wedding. The traditional method is to place the most important people in the middle and in the first row, in other words, in the strong point of the picture, the tallest in the back and the shortest in the front, while the others find their place in the middle on chairs or benches. There are those who prefer to place the characters on a slope or take the picture from a high point.

For a group without a festive occasion, the photographer is free to arrange his characters in an unpretentious way, suggesting that they look in different directions and especially not to look into the lens. Even in this case, we must be able to recognize each person, knowing that their place in the picture must be chosen according to the group.

Lighting can also be used in an innovative way, for example, by reflecting the light, which gives importance to the shadows, or - if the photo is indoors - by shining additional lights that are well distributed on some important parts of the photo, which gives depth to the image. Thus, group photography becomes an additional opportunity to abandon the classic and traditional formation of the people and attempt innovative compositions and bold lighting in unusual natural or artificial decorations. The use of additional pieces or accessories (such as motorcycles and musical instruments in both photos) helps to break the perspective by creating new centers of interest.

Small group

When a group of two people is composed, care must be taken to ensure that one of its characters dominates the strong point of the photo. The two old ladies in the photo surprised us when they were making a gesture that indicated a friendly relationship. The lady on the first deck looks like she is protecting her more frail friend. They were both touched after I took the picture. It is a very spontaneous and loving picture and I never felt like I had committed a sin by exposing their lives.
Leica M3
1/250 sec aperture 8 Kodak Tri X

Non-classic group:

I asked these people to stand where they wanted. They were very proud of their new motorcycles and we can see this in the way they knew how to
show their bikes.
Lennhoff 1/125 sec aperture 8 Kodak Tri X

Composite classical group:

A choir that provokes us to make a classic picture by showing the musical instruments on the first deck. Of course, for a group as important as this, all faces must be seen and each participant must be represented in this picture in his or her most attractive form.
Hasselblad 1/125 sec aperture 11 Kodak Tri X

Different ways of arranging the characters in a group.

To photograph a small group, place the tallest person in the back and the shortest person in the front. If some people are still blocked, let the first row sit (as shown in the diagram on the right). You can also arrange them using chairs or a curved surface (in the middle). Finally, for important groups, take the photo from above.