Hi I am about to shoot a charity calender for a class at school and in each month there will be between 3 and 6 children. I usually use my 50mm or 85mm for portrait shots and love the wide aperture look but when I am shooting more than 2 kids how do you still get the sharp focus blur background look, is it better to use a different lens? in past experiences it is really touch and go to get a shot of say all 4 subjects in focus. Should I adjust something else on my camera. sorry for simple question!
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Please can you help with group portraits question?
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Danzaroonie
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All depends on your distance from the subject and the f stop on your lens.....i would search Google for a DoF calculator,this will help a great deal...
stevewestern
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One easy way would be to get yourself higher than them, so that they have to look up at you. Get them to stand as close in to each other as possible (I recently did this with all 6 classes at my local school, and up to 33 kids at a time !) As there is no background other than a little floor your aperture can be set to ensure that everyone is in focus. I was able to climb up a climbing apparatus so bouncing a flash off the ceiling made for even lighting - the younger ones thought it amazing that I was so high so didn't wander around, and all eyes were glued on me to see if I fell off which made the job easy. I know this is different to the OOF background you mention, but getting faces in focus is all important, and as there is little by way of background in my method it may be worth considering.
Good Luck !
Good Luck !
Mondo74
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Can I swap with you? I've just done my village school calendar again this year. 12 classes with upto 32 pupils in each. I wish my biggest problem was DOF 
Whilst you as a tog will want it to be technically correct (and so it should be) the parents are more concerned with whether or not their little Susie or Johnny is poking themselves in the eye or have just wet themselves (two of the issues I encountered this year). They cannot appreciate the effort that goes in to making the otherwise drab background disappear into a nice blur so shoot me down if you like but my money is on concentrating on getting 32 kids to look on the same direction at the same time with nice expressions and no sticking the "Vs" up behind the teacher. And then do it another 11 times.
Whilst you as a tog will want it to be technically correct (and so it should be) the parents are more concerned with whether or not their little Susie or Johnny is poking themselves in the eye or have just wet themselves (two of the issues I encountered this year). They cannot appreciate the effort that goes in to making the otherwise drab background disappear into a nice blur so shoot me down if you like but my money is on concentrating on getting 32 kids to look on the same direction at the same time with nice expressions and no sticking the "Vs" up behind the teacher. And then do it another 11 times.
stevewestern
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Ha - Yup, I did get that, as well as sore arms from holding myself in some sort of safe fashion as I held the camera and myself....
I had two lads in floods of tears, many who were making rabbit ears or silly faces, but a battery pack on the flash meant I could fire off several shots rapidly and hope for the best. Seems that they turned out OK as the calendars are being printed today !
I had two lads in floods of tears, many who were making rabbit ears or silly faces, but a battery pack on the flash meant I could fire off several shots rapidly and hope for the best. Seems that they turned out OK as the calendars are being printed today !