On location, group photos

Yesterday I was filming down the bottom of a shaft where a Tunnel Boring Machine, TBM, had  broken through. The precision that these guys work to is fascinating, a 3.2m cutting head, driven about 800m underground, through silt, clay and rock, and they are then able to place it within millimetres.

I was there to film the breakthrough team photographs being taken by local photographer Christian Pearson and to shoot an interview with one of the tunnellers for the documentary.

A few tips for photographing large groups.

1. Bring artificial lighting, in this environment using two remotely operated speedlights mounted on stands set one on each side is the only real option. Flash on camera is not an option!

2. Have an assistant. As the photographer you can do a bit of organising on the ground but after that you wan to be up at camera position. An assistant who understands your language and what the final product is to be will not only speed up the process but also give a more professional image.

 3. Have something for the back row to stand on and a row of seats. As this shot shows quite often location will prohibit either of these, the best thing to do here is to have everyone standing turn side on slightly, so they are facing in towards then centre. Doing this allows you to make a more compact composition and to fit more people in to a limited space.

4. Shoot more than one, start safe and then get some emotion.

As I was shooting video I thought I would show you a grab from the edit suite.