Photographing large groups

[AmyM]

I should have asked this earlier, but my family is known for doing everything on short notice LOL. We're getting the whole crew together for a cookout in a few hours and I need some tips.
My main concern is focus. I can't use the itty bitty blur the background apertures or I'll surely mess up somebody in the picture. What are some other good tips for taking pictures of large groups? I'd say a minimum of 14 people. Camera settings (metering, focus mode, shutter speed, that sort of thing) is what I really need the most help with.

HELP! LOL thanks girls!

[jessica31876]

did a quick search and came up with this site:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-take-great-group-photos/

I had some info in a phtography book but I dont know which one and I know I couldnt find it without going through all of them

[AmyM]

Thank you! :)

[chloe]

Oh, I'd be interested as well. I work for my town and I'm in charge of the communication, including taking pix of the events. We sometimes have huge groups (like 60-80 people) to photograph but I can't seem to have everyone looking good at the same time and being in the focus... I usually end up picking the pic where my bosses (the mayor and his deleguees) look at their best (which is already a difficult job! LOL) and photoshop anybody else that is really too terrible!

Any tip is more than welcome!!!

[Rebecca Lynn]

This is what I do for large groups I put my camera in aperture priority mode and put my aperture to 11. That will give a nice depth of field. Also you want to focas on the front roll. I go for the person that is in the middle of the front roll and focas on there eyes.

[AmyM]

People were in and out from 5 until really late last night so I didn't get a big group picture. Plus it wasn't "just" family (which is what I wanted for the picture) so I think I'll have to do this at our Christmas breakfast. I will definitely keep these tips in mind for Christmas!