How do you pose a large number of people? What makes a great family group portrait?
An exceptional family group portrait captures the love between members of the family and the closeness that is more intense than association or friendship. Family portraits have changed over the years. Having several extended families due to remarriage and divorces mixes the family members in awkward ways in most countries.
When taking photographs of a large group of people especially in wedding family portraits, layout your group so that the people at the back looks close enough to those people in the front. This kind of design arrangement of group will give you that sharply focused group images.
For our showcase of family group portrait inspiration, photographer Chen Waiwen lead this incredible project with a team of 14 photographers to go on a one year journey to China capturing photographs of various ethnic groups in traditional Chinese clothing carrying traditional instruments and tools. Through his book “Harmonious China: A Sketch of China’s 56 Ethnicities,” he wanted to express his understanding of the Chinese nation as a huge family through his camera.
Clothing plays an important role in group portraits. If you observe, each faces in the group grabs your attention first because of their coordinated clothing that is part of the picture. Every face is well lit. So, when using a big light source, feather the output from the main light and use a strong fill light source. The black backdrop cloth partially concealed and sometimes intentionally revealed the environments that envelop these groups of people.
56 ETHNIC GROUPS OF CHINA
Further Readings And Resources
1. List Of Ethnic Groups in China