I'm going to be taking a large group shot next month and I need help with the math.
There will be about 100 people in two rows. Figuring a two foot width for each person, that's 100 feet. I'm going to take several shots and stitch them, not one shot of everyone.
I need to know roughly how far away I need to be to be able to pan the series of shots without the distortion in the center and which lens length?
Thanks -- "While you can teach an old dog new tricks, you simply can't teach him to be a cat."
I taxed my brain . You should be able to do this in three shots, just leave some dead space between each group and the finished photo stitched with a little dead space in between will make for a nicer photo. You will have one long panarama with three groups. I think you would be able to do this, shooting about 25-30 feet away from each group with 28mm lens on a crop body camera. I don"t see any distortion with 28mm on a crop body. Hope this is helpful.
Here's a shot I took back in 2009. This was 5 shots at 135 mm (full frame so about 90 mm on a crop camera). I counted 54 people across the front row. I tried shooting at a wider focal length but didn't like the result (people in the middle looked larger due to distortion, people on the ends were really turning their heads). This one came out ok other than me being an idiot and not stopping down further to get it sharper. Click to see full res image (19000 pixels wide!). -- "The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark." — John Muir
Generally two things come into play for best results- a longer focal length is better, and you want to be taking it from a place where the focus is the same for the entire group (this last is critical!). Shoot with overlap. The longer focal length means you'll have more shots to construct your pano with, which will increase the quality. -- ***ATMFAQ***DIFAQ***Kitchen Sink***
How do you keep the people from moving while you are shooting this many shots? You did a good job, I can't see where it is stitched. You didn't mention what f/stop you used. I have only shot a couple of groups with about 50 and I stopped down to f/5.6.
Any given person only has to be still for two shots, because you're essentially 'scanning' the field. The ones not being shot can relax before and after. One other thing- consider shooting with the long axis vertical. It'll take more individual shots, but you'll have more 'field' above and below the people and end up with a better final aspect ratio to the picture. -- ***ATMFAQ***DIFAQ***Kitchen Sink***
I was planning on shooting vertically if only to have crop room top and bottom while being able to zoom closer
I'm going out this weekend to a nearby field that has a fence across one end and taking a series of test shots at different distances so I can get it right with the group. Sometimes my need for logistics drives me nuts, but I do end up with better results than if I don't figure these things out first -- "While you can teach an old dog new tricks, you simply can't teach him to be a cat."
Sue, Photoshop generally makes pretty good decisions on where to merge the photos. I didn't ask them to be still between shots, in fact they didn't know that I was taking more than one shot.
Shot it at f/3.5. I had been taking action shots all day and needed the shutter speed. Could have easily shot it at f/8, just forgot to change it. -- "The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark." — John Muir
Taken at Zussman military training facility in Fort Knox, KY. It's a small town that was built just for training Special Forces personnel. Once a year it's used for one of the largest airsoft tournaments in the US which I was taking the shots for them that weekend. Here's a link to the sponsor's website: »www.oplionclaws.com/ and here's a video trailer of a DVD that was taken that weekend:
