I put my volunteer application in at a new church I've been attending. They are looking for photographers in their children's department. As I used to photograph children professionally I thought I might be able to help out. My credentials came through about the same time as my Pastor's wife called to ask another favor. She wants to be one of 3 photographers capturing their Mother's Day celebration.

They have 3 services each weekend and Mother's Day is a big holiday in the states. I'm attending the 6PM Saturday night service and then again on Sunday at 9AM & 11AM. I don't know how many families I will need to photograph but the church is setting up backdrops and some form of lighting for the occasion. I only shoot available light so I'm bringing my tripod, D7000 & my wireless remote. I'll have my Nikkor 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 VRII lens aboard to handle the bulk of the shots. I've shot great photos in candlelight with that setup so I don't anticipate any problems with a stable rig. The wireless remote will let me concentrate of the grouping and expressions instead of peeking through a viewfinder.

I won't be able to post any of the shots taken as part of the church's policy on private gatherings of this sort. I'll simply process the photos and burn the best to a CD for the church. It should be fun.

It sounds like you may have a fair bit of work ahead of you Bob.

I know just how tricky big groups can be. I used to do large group shots at a school I worked at. With camera on a tripod I always shot of about 4 frames before I would let them go, so I could layer the 4 frames then any students that blinked or pulled a funny face, I could mask through to the next layer.

Good luck with it Bob.

I'll be trying to shoot at F8 so that the depth of field will cover the focus area. That's not easy will available light. I'll be curious what type of lighting they'll have set up. I hope it's not harsh spot light from above. If it were up to me I'd shoot in the wide open cafeteria here overhead lighting would give me enough ambient light for ISO 1600 or 3200. The D7000 can produce good photos at that setting.

Yes it is amazing what ISO you can shoot with the current generation of cameras now, to think back in the film days I marvelled at ISO 400 and then the grain was quite large.

I used to "push" Kodak TriX 400 to 1600 all the time.

Sounds like you're going to have a busy day Bob - have fun!

I haven't really found myself photographing formal groups but that sounds an interesting technique to use that I would not have thought about. I think I know what you mean, erasing maybe one person or so on one layer to show a better image on a previous layer? Is that what you mean? Wouldn't the group be moving about a bit and not line up properly? Thanks for any advice.

Sounds like a lot of work, you will love it.

Do you think you will need a practise beforehand with the lighting etc, it may well be worth asking more about the lighting and backdrops.

Would you be able to do outside shots [always easier on the lighting, oh what is the weather like where you are at the mo?]

When is Mothers day we had ours a while ago, I thought it was on the same day?

Hi BC

In effect yes, that what I meant. With large groups you always find someone will have blinked and if you take several shot in quick succession you can then mask to one of the other layers. I generally would do the whole head of a person so it looks perfectly natural.

It has saved my bacon on my occasions

Day one of the three session shoot is over. I learned a lot. It was a nuthouse trying to get everyone photographed AFTER services. Families were separated so parents trying to find their children while signing up for a photo. The location where the church put me was crazy. It was in a narrow lobby walkway directly in the path to the restrooms. Kids were running in between me and the families sitting there waiting for their picture to be taken. The form provided included name and email address and it was numbered, ie. 1-15. This was an attempt to match the family with their picture. It didn't always work because if there were 4-5 members in a family sometimes more than one person in the group filled out a ticket. Mayhem!

If I was in charge I would have a helper filling out cards and getting the family groups in line, ready to go. The assistant would hand me the next card, I'd photograph it before the family.

I shot 13 final photos. I had 18 cards. Do you see the problems here? Kids were forming groups and goofing off making faces. What's wrong with this scene?

I shot hand held without flash. It would have been bloody impossible to use a tripod in that mad corridor of mayhem. Some kid, running bye, would have tripped over a tripod leg and sent my gear crashing to the ground. You can make another kid but I only have one DSLR.