Make group pictures interesting: the photo montage

Photos of wedding receptions or vacation groups are often like one egg to the other. Group pictures can also be made interesting. One example is photo montage.

Group photo as a photo montage

Just break new ground: Instead of taking a picture of all the people in a group at the same time against any background, you capture each one individually. Later, you put together a great photo montage on the computer. Such a group picture is definitely something special and stands out.

• Of course, the procedure is more complex and requires a certain amount of planning. Ideally, you should make an appointment in advance so that you can have a quiet look at the scene of the action.
• Find a suitable position here. For example, position yourself at the end of a narrow aisle that all people have to pass through to get to the buffet.
• It becomes even more interesting if you also choose an unusual point of view. For example, you can aim down from a balustrade. If you call the people by their names as they pass, look up. If you press the shutter button at this moment, interesting, unusual shots will be taken.

Good lighting ensures good group photos

The key is good lighting. Avoid photographing people from the front with a strong flash only. The result is pale faces, shady backgrounds and strong drop shadows.

• Better: illuminate the scene softly and brightly with auxiliary lamps and diffusers. A light background will also help with image editing later if you want to completely free the people.
• Aim the camera and tripod at an imaginary threshold in the scene. If someone passes this point, take a picture. It is best to decide in advance whether you want to take portraits or full body pictures. Both have their charm, with portraits already having an effect on smaller formats.

Create photo month on the PC

• The even background on the PC makes image editing easier. You get rid of color casts in an image quickly and can automatically apply the correction to the remaining photos.
• The same applies to the sharpening of the individual shots. When assembling, everyone should have a uniform format - this makes work much easier.
• Depending on the resolution of the individual images, a collage is created with an extremely large number of pixels and a correspondingly high memory requirement. A reasonably fast computer is a prerequisite so that you don't have to take a coffee break with every processing step. Another option is to count down the individual images before putting them together.