Something that has been working for me, when I remember it at least, is the C.I.A. mantra I have been using for my recent jobs. Pics from two small jobs today.
C for Control and Composition. Get the elements you want defined, exclude what you do not want and explain your idea if necessary. Share what your goal is. Often explaining it will identify other options or subject objections and hearing it out loud often helps settle things.
How do you photograph 51 interns without it turning into a simple mob shot? You don’t. Use the space, the larger group as secondary subjects and focus (literally) on the main subject, the administrator holding the class. I could have worked the interaction better, but I am getting there. The exclusion element is shallow depth of field, hard but not impossible to achieve with a 9mm lens!
This is often a combination of a pre-conceived idea and then an adaption to reality. I try to sum up the image idea in three words. For the images below it was girl-sails-red.
I is for Interaction and a point of Interest. Once the subjects are arranged and the “shape” of your image is settled, it is time to make sure nobody has empty hands, limp arms or a look of being lost and uninvolved. As simple as a piece of paper, something to settle the viewer that this is a photo of an active person, not just a set-up shot (which of course it is).
A is for Action or Angle. Either or both, which allow you to capture any movement and/or work the shooting angle, which to a certain extend also sets the mood and power of the shot. Shoot from above, below, lengthways, through, but work these angles. Avoid if you can a flat wall of people in front of a flat wall. Movement also helps the subject to feel like a natural fit in their own photo.
Using a foreground element that matched the shape and colour of the sails on the t-shirt (as well as adding relevance, because the Mirror class of boats always use red sails) helped add a pleasingly settled feel to this otherwise straight portrait image.