One of the most challenging things about photography is groups. But for some reason, it's one of the things that just clicked with me. Don't ask me about the technical side of photography, though. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Groups happen to be my strength. Technology, that's my husbands department. (Just one of the many reasons we make a good team.)

So, I thought I would write a blog post to discuss the basics of posing groups.

First, think of the dots on a die. Then imagine the dots are people. The ones up top are the taller people, and they're in the back of the group. The ones at the bottom are the shorter people in the front. By setting up people like the dots on this die, you make sure that everyone can be seen. No one is hiding behind anyone else.

This is just the first step in visualizing how you're going to set up your group. If you set up all your groups like this, it would turn out a little boring, and sometimes awkward. So let's think about the most visually pleasing way to view a group of people.

According to Darwin's Theory of Beauty, one of the most pleasing shapes to humans is the triangle. And if you double a triangle and set the two end to end, you get a diamond. These are the two basic shapes that we will be using to create our groups. Both of these shapes can be used to set up groups of 2 people all the way up to 20 or more people. Here are some visual examples...

By starting your group with one of these to shapes, you can build out to accommodate as many people as you want. The triangle is good for groups of uneven numbers, while the diamond is best for even numbers. But really either one will work as your base for any number of people. Once you have your base started, just add more people to the group using the staggered die configuration I mentioned above. Another important thing to remember is that no one looks their best from straight on. Have everyone turn at a 45 degree angle. Start with the middle person on your left. Have them turn toward the person on their left. Have the person on their left turn to their right, almost like they're going to face each other, but keep them at 45 degrees. Then when you add people to the group, have them turn and face the back of the person in front of them. Trying to describe it with words is a little confusing, so I'll post a couple of photos to show what I mean.

I hope this can help someone who's struggling with posing groups. If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I will see if I can come up with something useful.