I've participated in many of my own extended family's photo shoots, but as a photographee, not as the photographer. My family mostly knows how to fall into place for these kinds of pictures, but John's family hadn't had a reunion in 15-20 years; they're not really used to taking up their usual spot for the big photo. So I Googled "large family portraits" and found some good tips. Here they are, including the websites. Tips I found most helpful to our situation (and my pathetically amateurish skills), I set in bold.
Tips for Large-Group Photography
(2) From Essortment: How to take your own family portrait: group photography tips
Similar guidelines apply to finding the perfect outdoor spot for your family portrait. You don’t want the background and scenery taking away from the people in the picture. Your local park or recreational area will have plenty of options: around a gazebo or fountain, by some trees or flowers, or in front of a fence or open field. Avoid locations where light may reflect, such as lakes or windows of buildings.
Outdoor lighting can be trickier. You do not want the sun directly behind the group (it will be too bright for the camera) nor do you want it in front of the group (everyone will be squinting). Position the sun at a 45 to 90 degree angle to the group, thus eliminating both problems caused by having the sun directly in front or behind. Another situation to be aware of is any shadows cast by trees or buildings that sun may cause. When choosing a location and arranging the people, make sure that all members to be photographed and the photographer are in the sun or in the shade; this will keep the brightness of the photograph consistent and even.
When arranging people for a portrait, two steps should be followed: place smaller people in front and bigger people in the back, and arrange people in a circular or oval pattern. When children and smaller adults are placed in the back of a picture, they get lost; likewise, when larger adults are in front, they dominate a photograph. For example, in a small family portrait, usually the adult male will be seated in the back of the photograph, followed by the adult female, then any children or young adults. In a large family portrait, usually the adult men will stand in the back row, the adult women will sit in front of the men, and the children and young adults will kneel in front of the women.
Achieving a circular or oval pattern can be difficult, especially in larger groups. First, two important don’ts should be followed: don’t stand people shoulder to shoulder or one person right in front of the other, and don’t make a picture top heavy by standing two people behind one person (forming an upside-down triangle). To create a pleasant and balanced curve in the photograph, position people so that the top of a person’s head is between the eyes and chin of the person next to him or her. Sometimes you may need to utilize small platforms or step stools to adjust heights and keep the curve smooth.
Finally, the angle refers to where and how the camera is placed. First, the camera should be, at a minimum, at eye level with the tallest person in the photograph. By keeping the camera slightly above people, everyone’s eyes will look more open and chins will be raised, reducing the effect of double chins. Second, position the camera at the correct distance. If the photograph will be a full-bodied shot, then additional space needs to be added around the whole picture. (The additional space above and below the people should be equal and to the left and the right should be equal.) If the photograph will be a close-up shot, then additional space needs to be left above and to the sides of the people, and an appropriate cut-off point established at the bottom of the picture. The best place to crop a picture is between the elbow and the middle of the upper arm.
(3) From LightingMagic.com
When thinking of how you will pose a large family group, don’t try to do the entire group at once. Break them up and pose them as individuals. A good pose that works for an individual portrait is still a good pose. Just integrate it into the group. If there are separate families within the main group, try to keep each family together if possible. Try to build toward a pyramid composition with the taller individuals being near the middle of the group and those seated or kneeling on the ends. You can also work toward creating an inverted check mark which will produce a pleasing composition. It is important to not place small children on the ends but rather near the center perhaps close to a grandparent where they appear more protected.
To optimize focusing as well as insure that each person in the group appears normal in size, arrange the family group so that all individuals are about the same distance from the lens. If the group is quite wide, it will be slightly curved toward the camera on each end so the subject to lens distance is uniform.
Build groups around central figures such as mothers, fathers and grandparents. Start with these central figures and build onto each side.
Have individuals touching in some way such as a hand on the back of the person they are near or maybe a hand on a shoulder. This will create a warmer, more connected look to the grouping. When doing this, avoid fingers and hands growing out of unexpected places.
Parents holding infants should hold them on the side that allows their face to be lit by your main light source. If held on the other side their faces will be mostly in shadow.
Avoid having multiple heads parallel to each other on the same horizontal line. Also avoid having one head above another on a vertical line. Try to have all heads at different heights and on diagonals. A good rule of thumb is to have the chin of one person at the same height as the next person’s forehead. Avoid greater differences for adjacent individuals. This is accomplished by using chairs or other furniture for individuals to sit on. For example: While one person stands behind a chair slightly to one side, another person sits in the chair and yet another person sits on the arm of the chair producing a pleasing difference in head height and also creating a triangle or upside down check shape.
Except for the key central figure it is desirable to show only one arm and one leg per person. This simplifies the image allowing the viewer to see more faces and [fewer] limbs. This is easily accomplished by positioning individuals so that they are partially behind another person.
If there are persons standing, avoid placing others such as children extremely low to the floor. Instead, they could sit in the lap of a person in a chair but to one side avoiding vertically lined up heads.
Camera height is generally chest high for the individuals who are standing. If you have a number of individuals at different heights, you may wish to select a camera height that is about in the middle or slightly above the middle of the group. Being slightly high is preferable to being slightly low.
If there is one person in the group you can pick on a bit and have fun with it will take everyone’s mind off what is going on and lighten things up and help in getting better expressions. You turn this person into the family comic. It works in nearly all situations. Find the person that the others will enjoy teasing. Then you have shifted every ones attention from having their portrait made to having some fun with Uncle Billy. Uncle Billy will enjoy the attention in most cases.
When working with a large group, avoid having bystanders behind the area of the camera. When there are people moving around behind the camera (other than the photographer), it is inevitable that one or more of the group will be looking somewhere other than where the photographer is directing when the portraits are made. It is essential that everyone be reminded from time to time to direct their attention toward the photographer or wherever he or she requests.
If the family sitting is looked upon as simply several small sittings that are being combined, it may not seem near as difficult or as intimidating. Have fun with family sittings. Most people would rather have fun than act stuffy anyway.
(4) From Best Family Photography Tips
--Tip # 2 in "Family Photography Tips 101" is really a tip on backgrounds. As the Commander-In-Chief-of-the-Camera (CICOTC, for short), you get to decide where the photograph is taken as well as how much of the background to include in the picture. This particular family photography shot demonstrates tips on background, composition, cropping, posing, and lighting.
Since the location had boulders, we might as well take advantage of them with our posing choices. If the boulders weren't there, we would be much more limited in our posing options….
Unless, of course, you could convince them to form a human pyramid (a sure-fire family photography classic). However, in this photo, we have a man sitting on a boulder with his wife on his lap.
We also position Dan on the left, with one foot on a rock, pivoting toward the camera. The three others in the shot have varying amounts of their bodies blocked. However, their faces are all nicely visible, and that is what you ALWAYS WANT.
This particular photography pose works so well because each of the 6 people is using a slightly different pose, which when taken as a total composition, works extremely well.
If you run into a similar environment, it's recommended that you take several pictures ... some where the rocks are visible, and some where they are not. Then, decide which you like better.
--For the family photography photo above, all the people are positioned in the center of the photo. However, there's a significant element in the background (the tree on the left). We could have chosen to position the tree in the center of the frame (in the background, of course; do you think I'm an idiot?) or position it off-center, like we did. Being on the left produces a more pleasant overall composition.
And, as a nice bonus, the dramatic contrast of light and shadow in the background create a nice artistic look. As long as your subjects are not in light AND shadow, you're alright. However, if there is not enough light where your subjects are, you should elect to use fill-flash.
Here's a tip on using the correct metering mode. If your camera has a "center weighted-average" metering mode, you should use it in this type of shot, while focusing on the 6 people. If instead, you used an "evaluative" or "overall average" type of metering, thus including the partially lit background, the people would be under-developed, unless fill-flash is used.
--Quick tip: when practicing family photography, don't have everyone posing exactly the same way. Check out how many different positions the family in this photograph used. It's fair to count as "different," if one person is shown unblocked, while another uses the same pose, but may be partially blocked ... but never the face). Imagine how different the picture would look if everyone stood next to each other in front of the rocks. Does the [word BORING] come to mind? The most common mistake in beginner photography when directing a large group in taking family photography poses is not to have everyone's face visible. Just remember this general rule of thumb: The larger the group, the more slight positioning adjustments need to be made.
I also found some professional photographer sites with large family portraits.
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Since I had to be in the photo as well, the only available person to take the photo was my camera's timer. So we only took 3 pictures (in spite of what I had read about the mathematical approach to "blink-free" photos in a large group). Here is the product of all this research, the best of the 3 pictures (ta-daaaaa):
(Things I would do differently: Put on my shoes!, notice that Mike still had his hat on, re-position a few people, and tilt the camera down a bit to center the group more and not cut off the boys' feet.) But overall, I think it turned out well (no blinks!), and it was fun to do.
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