Focus

[jkp41]

I took this picture of my mother and sister on a recent trip back home. It was a spontaneous shot in a poorly lit house so I was set on f1.8 with my nifty fifty. When they started making faces, I quickly made this shot. My focus point was on my sister and the narrow dof left my mother out of focus.

My question is this, would the shot be better if both were in focus or does this work better by creating a single subject?

[autofocus]

In your photo, your sister is the subject, and mom being out of focus is ok. You can still see mom's expression in the background albeit soft, and that still adds to the photo. I personally think the photo is fine the way it is. If that's the end result you wanted, well, then you did it, and the photo works. Doing it this way also helps to soften some of the unimportant background clutter.

[miyukisarah]

Love it I think the DOF is perfect.

[jkp41]

Auto:
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't intend to have my mother unfocused but it just turned out that way and I thought it worked. I just wasn't sure if this was my untrained eye saying it was ok though.

miyukisarah:
Thanks for the compliment!

[tasmo2]

I really like it! I think that its great that she is OOF because she isn't making a silly face like your sis is so that makes her the main sub in the pic!