Family Portraits - I'm doing something wrong

[love.trees]

I'm having a hard time getting a family of 4 or 5 all in focus. I know this is hard bc everyone can be at different distances from me and each other, but it seems like I'm missing something obvious. Maybe the focal settings on my camera? The aperture? A special lens?

I need tips on how to achieve a family portrait where everyone is crisp, and my stomach is not in knots when I review the images after the shoot.

Thanks for your help!

[Ottor]

Originally Posted by love.trees

I'm having a hard time getting a family of 4 or 5 all in focus. I know this is hard bc everyone can be at different distances from me and each other, but it seems like I'm missing something obvious. Maybe the focal settings on my camera? The aperture? A special lens?

I need tips on how to achieve a family portrait where everyone is crisp, and my stomach is not in knots when I review the images after the shoot.

Thanks for your help!

A smaller aperture will extend your depth - can you post a pic with your settings for us to look at??

tks,

r

[love.trees]

This is only of 2 people (obviously) and I can't get the lady in the back to be clear. Ah.

ISO 100 f/5 1/100
Thanks for your help.

[filemanager]

Originally Posted by love.trees

This is only of 2 people (obviously) and I can't get the lady in the back to be clear. Ah.

ISO 100 f/5 1/100
Thanks for your help.

You shouldn't have a problem with f/5! Strange.... maybe she doesn't look as sharp because she's more in shadow?

[love.trees]

I know, that's what I thought. But the whole shoot turned out like this, regardless of shadows, if she is behind him, only he is in focus. I had the camera on aperture priority... I don't know what to do, and I have another family session this weekend.....

Thank you for taking a look.

[RLucas]

What was the focal length used? It will be an important factor as to how much DOF you have at f/5

For example. If you were shooting at 50mm from 5ft away, with your aperture at f/5, the DOF will only be a touch over 6 inches.
So if you focused on the mans left eye, by the time the distance reached the other side of his head, you would already be at the limit of acceptable sharpness.

You may want to either stand back further, or stop down. Whichever suits your needs more.

[love.trees]

41.0mm

Canon EOS T1i
Kit Lens Model 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I also have Canon lens EF 50mm f/1.4, but only use this for individuals bc the DOF is so shallow.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by love.trees

41.0mm

Canon EOS T1i
Kit Lens Model 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I also have Canon lens EF 50mm f/1.4, but only use this for individuals bc the DOF is so shallow.

Also see my above post, I edited it. At 41mm, with a distance of 5ft to your subject, at f/5, your DOF will still only be about 10" or so. Still too shallow.
Stop down to about f/8, and go from there if your shutter speed will allow. This will give you about 1.5ft to work with. If not, stand further back.
Also think about where your focus point is. Try focusing more in between the two, like on his far eye. This will give roughly 1/3 of the dof in front of that point, and 2/3 behind it.

Practice with stationary objects, and you can figure it out.

You can use this too to help find a starting point for different situations.
Online Depth of Field Calculator

Hope this helps!

[Diamond Girl]

What kind of metering did you use? Spot, Centered, or Matrix?

[Tara333]

What kind of metering were you using and your aperature was too high...at least that's what I saw initially. I'm still a newbie so I don't know too much but those two things struck me.