Company Staff Group Photo Shoot

Executive Team: Getting 25 People Sharp

Twenty-five executives, all in formal business attire, needed a group portrait for their annual report. Standard corporate request, except they wanted everyone in one frame — no compositing, no separate rows shot and stitched together. Just one clean capture with everyone sharp and evenly lit.

The main technical problem with large groups is depth of field. Arrange people in multiple rows and you've got at least two meters between the front and back row. At typical portrait apertures like f/4, someone's going soft. We shot at f/9 to keep everyone acceptably sharp, which meant we needed more light than a standard headshot session.

Lighting setup used four large softboxes — two as key lights positioned front-left and front-right at 45-degree angles, two as fill lights behind the camera to lift shadows and illuminate the seamless gray backdrop. All four were at equal height, roughly two meters up, angled down slightly to cover both seated and standing subjects. Power was balanced so the outer edges received the same exposure as the center — about 800Ws per key light, 400Ws per fill.

The women in white dresses were positioned deliberately. In a sea of black suits, they create visual rhythm and break up the horizontal mass. We placed them at intervals across the frame rather than clustering them together, which guides the eye across the composition and prevents the image from feeling static.

Camera was positioned about six meters back at torso height. Closer and you start getting perspective distortion on the outer subjects — heads look larger, bodies compressed. We used an 85mm lens to maintain natural proportions across the entire group. Shot tethered so we could check sharpness across all rows immediately after each frame.

Posing coordination took the most time. We gave each person three options: arms crossed, hands clasped in front, or arms at sides. Varying the poses within that constraint keeps it from looking too rigid while maintaining the formal tone. Seated subjects went on simple wooden stools rather than chairs with backs, which would create visual clutter and inconsistent heights.