Need help with posing

On Nov 28th Im doing a family portrait for a coworker. I have a backdrop, stands lights etc. But I have no clue at the moment on how to pose/seat them. The arrangement of them I can do but what have you found that works best for seating? Regular armless chairs, stools, benches, milk crates, buckets? The background will be black and will also cover the floor.


I currently only have normal armless chairs at my disposal, along with maybe 2 stools, other then that Im willing to spend some money as long as it isnt too high.


Thanks


Joel

That's a really hard question Joel :P


I personally don't like static portraits, such as chairs etc. But I don't know what your coworker wants and of course what your style is (what they might expect from you). If there are children as well, try to make it playfull. Milk crates or buckets or anything unusual will make a nice and relaxt portrait. At least, that's how I like them :P It's really a matter of personal flavour. Good luck with it!


Bye bye,


Jan

How many subjects are we talking about here. How many adult, how many children. Any elderly?

Sorry for not including all the info.


As far as I know:


9 people


Youngest maybe in high school


It is a Christmas present, my coworker wants a "formal" portrait black background.


I drew up acouple diagrams, at most I have 3 people seated.


Hope this helps


Thanks


Joel

Sorry I don't have much experience with this kind of photography. But what I think: end of november are somewhat darker and colder days, so people might not wear really colorfull clothes etc. When using a black background, you create an even more dark picture.


Of course the darker clothes are just a guess, but think about it. When you get a darker picture, you might want to get some more bright and colorful objects in the picture. Or some nice backlight..


About the pose itself. By the sound of it, your college wants a classic portrait. So you can't do anything crazy. In that matter try to get some harmony in the picture. If there are couples for example, try to get them to hold eachother or so. Let them show you "the love" :D


Try to get the happy family-feeling when you look at the picture. Good luck Joel


Keep in mind, it's just my opinion and I don't have much experience with group portraits..

whenever I set off to shoot something I've never done before or am just not sure about I search flickr


http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=family%20portrait&w=all


I would then go through and find compositions that I like.

Good hint! That could really help, also with other type of shoots.