POSE TWO SUBJECTS
Learn how to shoot with more than one subject
having more than one person in your scene will become more of a challenge. You’ll need to consider how to light and frame each subject to ensure that each person is framed in a flattering manner.
if you are shooting a couple or even close friends your aim will most likely be to show a connection, interaction and feelings between the subjects. even in scenes where the subjects don’t necessarily have a relationship, the models should still engage with each other in order to create a level of harmony in the scene.
“You definitely need more patience and a perspective view for details,” explains sandra Limberg (SOLLENA-PHOTOGRAPHY.DE).
“for photos with more than two people i am always happy to have assistance with me to watch and keep an eye on the details. for group pictures it is important that the people in the group like each other. in my opinion, distances and discrepancies in photos are visible immediately. if all optical details are right, i leave them be. in groups, i’ll give a little more guidance and instructions concerning movements or who should look in which direction, but basically, let them be people.
Let them be a group.”
Bouget explains that, “The rules for posing with more than one person will actually be the same as posing with one person. You will have to observe the same details as the ones as i have told you to pay attention to throughout this feature. The additional thing you may be able to do will be to create an interaction between the models in terms of posing according to the story you want to tell.
“for a family the first lighting setup is one large source above me (you will need an overhead boom arm). This way everybody will get about the same quantity of light, with nice soft shadows on their face. The bigger the family, the larger the light source will need to be. for a family you may also want to use two light sources, one above you about one metre away on your left, and one above you about one metre away on your right.
“These two lighting setups will make it easier for you to have flattering shadows on the faces of every member of the family. With only one light source placed on the left or right, the person who is the furthest from the light source will get less light than the other members of the family, and will run the risk of having less flattering shadows – though of course retouching is possible afterwards.
“it all depends on the story i want to tell. Do i want to put emphasis on one of the models in contrast with the other? Do i want to light them ‘equally’? if the light is hard, i may use the sun as a backlight for example. i may shoot in the shade and make the family/ model’s face where the main light source is. if the light is soft because it is cloudy, i will generally make the family/model’s face where the main light source is.”