It’s Tuesday again, meaning it’s time for another tidbit! This week’s tidbit is the third post in a series about posing large groups.
As in all things, balance is key
Color balance, that is. Unless I’m posing a giant group (15 plus) at a wedding where trying to balance color would be a nightmare (and it really isn’t worth it to create a nightmare for everyone), I always try to pose people based not only on their height and their relationship to each other, but by the color of their clothing. When posing groups at a wedding, for example, you can pretty sure (since gay marriage isn’t legal in most states….yet…) that you’ll have at the center of your group a man in a dark suit/tux and a woman in a light dress. Balancing for color, you’d want to place someone in darker clothing next to the white dress…and someone in a lighter outfit next to the dark tux…and so on. Since our eye is naturally drawn to the lightest part of a photo, weaving light and dark colors throughout your group helps to control where the eye lands first, goes to next, etc. It also just helps to lend a sense of overall balance to the image, without one side feeling “heavier” than the other.
Of course, you always need to balance the quest for color balance with the quest for triangles and keeping groups within the group together (immediate families within the extended family, for example). Balance, in everything, is key. And as is usually the case with weddings, you only have so much time to do all of this, so go easy on yourself with following every rule: 30 minutes to pose 20 different groups of five or more people…ready set go!
Happy shooting from Vantage!
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