Where To Focus?

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lam63

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lisa
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Hi All
I'm really struggling with where to focus on multiple subjects who are lined up side by side to get them all sharp, also is it best to use manual focus or auto focus. My trouble is I need to be able to focus on subjects quickly and not to have to mess too much. I'm fine with depth of field and apertures if they're in a line behind each other, but am rubbish at getting 2 or 3 subjects side by side in focus and both sharp. It's so frustrating and don't understand why I can't get to grips with it :bonk: I have a nikon d5100
thanxs
 
Set f8 and focus on the middle person.
 
Thanxs for your quick reply!
So if there where just 2 subjects would I focus in between the 2 and if so where abouts?
 
If they're side by side then presumably they are both at the same distance from the camera. Therefore you simply focus on one and the other one will be in focus too. You shouldn't even need to stop down much (if at all) for increased DOF.

The schoolboy (or schoolgirl) error is to use an AF point that passes straight between the two subjects onto the background behind them. e.g. the black ticks (placed on the subjects) show good places to focus and the red crosses (placed on the background behind them) show very poor places to focus.

20120405_220334_.JPG
 
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It depends on the separation between the two. Perhaps roping in a couple of friends to stand for some photos so that you could practice changing the distance between them and the aperture of your shot.

Mike
 
Thanxs all, that's great, gives me better idea. Will give it a go 2moro!
 
tdodd said:
If they're side by side then presumably they are both at the same distance from the camera. Therefore you simply focus on one and the other one will be in focus too. You shouldn't even need to stop down much (if at all) for increased DOF.

The schoolboy (or schoolgirl) error is to use an AF point that passes straight between the two subjects onto the background behind them. e.g. the black ticks (placed on the subjects) show good places to focus and the red crosses (placed on the background behind them) show very poor places to focus.

20120405_220334_.JPG
Click to expand...

Great explanation :) :clap:
 
tdodd said:
If they're side by side then presumably they are both at the same distance from the camera. Therefore you simply focus on one and the other one will be in focus too. You shouldn't even need to stop down much (if at all) for increased DOF.

The schoolboy (or schoolgirl) error is to use an AF point that passes straight between the two subjects onto the background behind them. e.g. the black ticks (placed on the subjects) show good places to focus and the red crosses (placed on the background behind them) show very poor places to focus.

20120405_220334_.JPG
Click to expand...

I tried this but I could not see any black ticks - do I have to adjust something in my camera?




:D
Great explanation Tim also a great comment on Bryan Pet.....:thumbs:
 
simonblue said:
I alway try and work with apertures from about F8 to give a nice dof :)
Click to expand...

Personally I think f/8 is way too cautious unless you purposely want the environment to feature as strongly within the photograph as the subject.

Here's a crop into a group shot at 35mm and f/4.5 on a 5D2. Sharpening for this is at Lightroom defaults and even so I think that f/4.5 has been quite sufficient for this deep group shot.

20100808_125928_5617_LR.jpg



Here are a couple of outdoor shots at 135mm and f/2 on a 5D2 and one at 135mm and f/2 on a 1D3. Is the DOF not nice or sufficient? Did I need f/8? Would f/8 have improved the pictures?

20110806_102409_9537_LR.jpg


20110902_145506_9956_LR.jpg


20110911_152036_8064_LR.jpg


In the last shot especially the wide aperture was essential in order to isolate the subjects from the distracting background and I think it was a big help in the second one too.

I think it's fair to say that one aperture value does not fit all. Sometimes you want subject isolation and sometimes not. Sometimes you're shooting tight with a long lens and sometimes loose with a wide angle. If DOF control is of interest to you then I think there is scope to step away from f/8 and try some other options as well.
 
simonblue said:
I alway try and work with apertures from about F8 to give a nice dof :)
Click to expand...

There is no substitute for understanding the DOF of your lenses.. ..
 
smudgie49 said:
Don't forget the aperture is just one of three factors affecting depth of field. The other two being your focal length and distance from camera to subject......
Click to expand...

Couldn't have put it better myself. F8 allows for a double row of people taken from can't 10 feet away at about 50mm so for two people side by side f5.4 would do, but if one person was slightly behind the other you may get problems. Experimenting is the key.
 
(Personally I think f/8 is way too cautious unless you purposely want the environment to feature as strongly within the photograph as the subject)

That what i try to do,with a lot of my photo,so F8 good for me.

But as you and Alastair were saying understanding what dof you want,and understanding how dof works with diffrents lens is a must.

:)
 
At the end of the day I think personal preference/style plays an important part. I tend to favour shallow DOF shots, especially for "portraiture", but as soon as you expand your subject to cover two people instead of one you immediately step back or reduce focal length and that will only serve to increase DOF further.

Here's a moderately tight shot of one person at 85mm and f/1.8. It's a street candid and not set up in any way. For me the DOF is ideal, with a nicely diffuse background (which might have been anything at all) and, with attention drawn to the face by the sharpness there and slight softening of the hand in front helping to reduce its influence as a distraction from the person. For other tastes the DOF here might be too shallow, but not for mine.

20110326_120523_5720_LR.jpg



As it happens I have a recent pair of similar photographs, one of which was at f/2.8 and the other at f/8. The result is different, a little, but neither one is right or wrong, and I think both have sufficient DOF for the subject. The rest of it boils down to how much emphasis you want to include for the scenery.

f/2.8
20120401_131806_1511_LR.jpg


f/8
20120401_131728_1509_LR.jpg


I have to say that, ignoring pose and composition, I do think the f/2.8 shot has the edge, simply because it has softened the rocks a little and they aren't quite so "in your face" with crisp detail fighting for attention. We are still perfectly able to see the setting for the scene, but the subject benefits from just a little more emphasis.


As the topic of the thread is more about "how/where to focus" I wouldn't want to labour the DOF point too much, but I do think it's worth illustrating that stopping down for yards of DOF is quite often neither necessary nor desirable. Putting the aesthetics to one side, it could cost you dear in shutter speed or ISO. The gap between f/2, for example, and f/8 is not small when it comes to shooting indoors or dim conditions in general.
 
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