How to focus on subject and background

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SGupta

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Saurav
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So I just got a new D7000, its my first ever DSLR so been reading lots and lots of guides on the settings.

Today I was outside and was taking a photo of my family with a 18-200mm lens at 22mm. I zoomed in half way but the camera kept focusing on the family and blurring the background. How can I have it so it does not blur the background?

I was using auto mode, so I think it was 1/60th and varies between f3.8 and f5.6.

I tried putting it on manual and using f32 etc (as I read somewhere it affects how much focus there is?) and it still didn't work.

Thanks.
 
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You really need to learn more about exposure Saurav and how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work in relation to each other

There isn't one standard setting for what you want to achieve, but you are on the right track in that it is aperture which you need to vary

Very basically aperture affects depth of field and shutter speed is used for freezing or blurring the subject matter.

Understanding the above is a fundamental requirement if you want to use anything other than the auto mode.

The book many people suggest is Understanding Exposure by B Petersen, not a fan myself although probably worth seeing if the local library have a copy

Know that didn't answer your question, but me giving you a setting to dial in manually (couldn't anyway without much more information) wouldn't help you get the information you need to achieve what you want from your new camera

Have a search on here and google exposure (in relation to photography otherwise who knows what you will get) It will soon click then you can decide what settings you need in relation to the desired effect required

Cheers
Rich
 
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Another point to note would be that if you set your aperture to f/32, the scene that you are viewing through the camera's viewfinder would not immediately change in accordance with that.
This is because to view and compose a shot, the lens of the camera is used 'wide open' at maximum aperture - in your case f/3.8 - so that you can see the brightest image which is naturally easier to see.
It is not until the shutter button is pressed that the aperture would stop down to f/32 - which means that you cannot see the extra depth of field in the viewfinder.
If you want to see what would be in focus before taking the shot, on the D7000 there should actually be a "depth of field preview" button which you can use - but be warned, at f/32 it will be really hard to see!

By the way, the term 'depth of field' means "how much focus there is" :)
 
Not sure if it's the same on Nikon, but on my Canon you can use the depth of field button in live view and it doesn't give a very darkened image
 
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Another suggestion - next time make sure your subject is close to the background to ensure all are in focus - but quite why you would want this perhaps you could dlaborate?
 
Thanks all.
Rich & David - I will read that thread regarding exposure, thanks for the tips, its greatly appreciated.

@ Carol, it was just a normal shot in a nice Christmas decorated mall, so I wanted the background in focus too.

I am new to DSLR so I have a lot to learn as I have been using the normal point and shoot cameras for years - where usually everything appears to be in focus.
 
What do you mean by didn't work at f32?

Not sure how far away the subject was but as an example if they were 50 feet away your area in focus would be from 25 feet to 1600 feet!

You shouldn't need to go anywhere near f32 and if you did a lot of photos could be made pretty difficult hand held in winter.
 
SGupta said:
Thanks all.
Rich & David - I will read that thread regarding exposure, thanks for the tips, its greatly appreciated.

@ Carol, it was just a normal shot in a nice Christmas decorated mall, so I wanted the background in focus too.

I am new to DSLR so I have a lot to learn as I have been using the normal point and shoot cameras for years - where usually everything appears to be in focus.
Click to expand...

With the smaller sensor on a P&S nearly everything will always be in focus. For a DSLR this is seen as a disadvantage. The whole point of taking control of our photography is to deliver an image to the viewer, we use focus, light and composition to make things important in the frame. With a P&S this is almost impossible. That's why we buy bigger cameras.

With a fairly wide angle lens, f11 should give you enough DoF to achieve what you want, but it'll be lots of bright colours fighting for attention. So unless you're talking about very careful composition, it'll be a bit of a mess.

Look at some recent threads about bokeh, and see how a suggestion of Christmas lights OOF can say lots about Christmas, you don't need everything in focus to tell your story, in fact often 'less is more'.
 
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