{"id":126,"date":"2008-02-25T00:39:30","date_gmt":"2008-02-25T05:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/2008\/a-quick-simple-tip-for-taking-better-group-photos\/"},"modified":"2008-02-25T00:39:30","modified_gmt":"2008-02-25T05:39:30","slug":"a-quick-simple-tip-for-taking-better-group-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/2008\/a-quick-simple-tip-for-taking-better-group-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"A quick, simple tip for taking better group photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN2027\"<\/a> The group photo – that awkward assembly of a group of friends or colleagues trying their hardest not to look like they are posing while they violate each others’ personal space.\u00a0 For a long time I thought it was impossible to take a good group photo, or at least it required huge amounts of creativity in choosing a setting, angle, or lord help us, props.<\/p>\n

But I stumbled on a technique that is quick, easy, and seems to work more often than not.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m not necessarily claiming I invented it, but I will happily share it with you.<\/p>\n

Step 1:\u00a0 Tell the group the to act like it’s the worst day of their lives, and take a picture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know, it sounds like exactly the wrong thing to do.\u00a0 You want to immortalize smiles and togetherness, not hatred and melancholy.\u00a0 So here comes step 2…<\/p>\n

Step 2:\u00a0 Now tell the group to act like it’s the best day of their lives.<\/strong>\u00a0 Take the picture, upload it to Flickr or whatever you use<\/a>, and bask in the many kudos you will receive.<\/p>\n

The key is that step 1 gets everyone loosened up, so that they’re willing to ham it up for the final photo.\u00a0 It also gives everyone a good emotional contrast to gauge how happy to be in the happy photo.\u00a0 No more sneers or unsure half-smiles.<\/p>\n

Here’s a case where it came in handy – the setting was a restaurant, with bad lighting and a big yellowish wood background.\u00a0 The camera was held by a random waitress.\u00a0 Once in a while you’ll get a server who’s studying photography in art school, but not always, so this tip is a great way to make sure you get a fun photo.\u00a0 First, everyone is sad:<\/p>\n

\"Saddest<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, they are insanely happy!\u00a0 Doesn’t it look like we were having a good time?<\/p>\n

\"Happiest<\/a><\/p>\n

Keep in mind that the sad photo doesn’t have to be convincing – note that two of the people here are having a hard time keeping a straight face.\u00a0 We don’t want great acting, we want to shake everyone up a little.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN2026\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And it works!<\/p>\n

\"DSCN2027\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How do you take a good picture on a gray, rainy day?\u00a0 Again, we use the procedure.\u00a0 Saddest day of their lives :<\/p>\n

\"DSCN1106\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Happiest day of their lives!\u00a0 Smiles despite the miserable weather.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN1105\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Go forth and use the technique.\u00a0 I’ve created a Sad vs. Happy photo pool in Flickr<\/a>.\u00a0 Please share any shots you take to it.<\/p>\n

Have you tried it and it worked?\u00a0 Didn’t work?\u00a0 Got a better idea?\u00a0 Leave me a comment below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The group photo – that awkward assembly of a group of friends or colleagues trying their hardest not to look like they are posing while they violate each others’ personal space.\u00a0 For a long time I thought it was impossible to take a good group photo, or at least it required huge amounts of creativity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"tags":[77,216,88,217,219,218],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-photography","tag-flickr","tag-group-photo","tag-how-to","tag-personal-space","tag-techniques","tag-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonmorrison.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}