Group photo when one of the group isn't there..

[Andy1357]

Hi,

I need to take a group photo of 3 people, but one of them can't make the photo shoot as he's in a different country.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to get around this problem? I can get two people photographed in one studio and the third in another - but would it look obvious if they were merged together to look like one shot?

Cheers
Andy

 

[iDad]

If possible try to get the same background whitewall, Greenwall, trees something that will be easily blend. If it's outdoors try to get the light source at the same angle meaning the sun. if you want the third-party between the two, make sure you have room for them if you want the third-party on one end make sure you have a place they can be put.. when taking the picture if you keep that spot in mind before you shoot, it should be fairly easy but you never know until you see the results you need to work with

 

[Andy1357]

Thanks iDad,

That makes good sense. Perhaps in this case a solid black background, indoors using a flash might be a workable option.

 

[Fatboy73]

iDad is right, similar lighting conditions are the single most important element in getting a composite to look correct. Next to that, make sure the resolution on the photos are the same. If those two detail are properly in place you should have no problem compositing the two.

 

[iDad]

" resolution on the photos are the same".... Excellent point Fatboy... very important

 

[Tom Mann]

Here's another consideration for composites like this ...

Make sure the direction of your lighting (for both photos, both key and fill) is such that shadows aren't thrown into the area where the missing person will be. If shadows are supposed to be somewhere and they are missing, viewers will immediately sense that something is wrong and they will feel it looks like a fake.

This means that high contrast, highly directional lighting, often favored for male studio portraits, is going to make your life difficult. In contrast, very soft lighting, e.g., 2 or 3 remotely triggered flash units bounced off of the walls and ceiling of a typical office with the subject(s) against a white wall may be artistically blah, but will make your life easy because it won't create any shadowing problems, won't fall off with distance too rapidly, etc.

T

 

[Tom Mann]

PS - I have found that if you get the basic lighting of the subjects correct (eg, the white room approach), but you want a different background, you can then drop the composite of the complete group onto a shot of a typical office environment without much problem because the fluorescent lighting in most offices is fairly uniform and non-directional (xcept for coming from the ceiling), the perspective is usually similar, etc., so the two images blend fairly well.

Somewhere I have a shot I did exactly the way I just described. I'll try to find it and post it.

Tom M

 

[Andy1357]

Thanks very much for the comments, that gives me a much better idea. Hopefully it works out!
Cheers