Videos

Kenneth Hines Jr, interviewed by Jason Vong in New York, shares five street photography tips: prime lenses like his Zeiss Batis 25mm, 40mm and 85mm force movement; f/6.3 keeps context that f/1.8 destroys; aperture priority copes with changing light; and midday sun bounced off buildings becomes a fleeting reflector.

Chelsea Northrup offers street photography advice: gear barely matters, though small mirrorless cameras are discreet and vintage ones like a Mamiya RB67 invite conversation; know local photography law; ask permission with a compliment when close; pay street performers and costumed subjects; and pre-compose, then wait for a subject.

Gary Gough shoots London's streets, rejecting rigid rules: any camera or phone works, phone users pass as selfie-takers, and wide lenses tell busier stories than a wide-open 50mm. He suggests programme or shutter priority at 1/125, auto ISO, and shooting for black and white so clashing shirts become grey tones.

Tim Kelly describes photographing a 24-person family on a twelve-foot Kelly beige muslin by posing five family groups separately, grandparents in the centre, children on the ends as leading lines, mothers favoured and nobody stacked, then blending groups into one portrait, as with his own forty-strong family outdoors.

Pye Jirsa of SLR Lounge gives seven steps for wedding group portraits: set ambient exposure for mood, light in the window's direction, meter on a stand-in, use a Profoto OCF beauty dish, pose with overlapping connections, and for large groups light sections from a tripod and composite in Photoshop.

Denis Reggie, after 1,900 weddings, sets up formal groups: bride on the groom's right, bridesmaids in front, groomsmen behind, and a 36-inch white umbrella beside the groom carrying two CTO-gelled Canon 600EX flashes, triggered by an ST-E3 on a 5D Mark IV with a 24-70mm at 35 to 50mm.

Five keys for group photos with a nifty fifty: leave space around the group for cropping; stop down from f/1.8, barely a foot of focus at ten feet, to f/2.8 or f/5.6; focus on the middle; shoot 1/100 to 1/160, faster with children; and use its natural field of view.

Spyros Heniadis explains three elements of sharp group photos: depth of field, focus point and lens. Using toy soldiers and a depth-of-field calculator app, he shows 30mm at f/2.8 from 20 inches yields 0.13 inches of sharpness, then stops to f/7.1 and f/14, focusing between front and back rows.

Chelsea Nicole gives five steps for tack-sharp group portraits: align everyone's toes on one focus plane, focused on the centre; use a 24-70mm for full-body groups; keep the shutter at 1/200 or double the focal length; and shoot f/2.8 for six or fewer, f/3.5 or f/4 for staggered rows.

Scott Robert Lim shares his large-group wedding strategy in a CreativeLive clip: find even shade, add off-camera flash to enrich colour, zoom to the longest lens, 70 to 105mm, to compress the background, pose every person, climb high to show every face, and have running bridal parties link arms.