Settings For Large Group Shot

[phantom73]

I am mostly a hobbiest. I have a canon t1i with a tamron 28-80mm lens. Will be shooting outdoors. My wife volunteered me to take a group shot of the schools cheer team (40 kids). I have been having a lot of trouble myself getting sharp images on my group shots. I know using the telephoto lens complicates things but it is all I have and I just want to get this shot and be done with this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[BigFuzzy]

More info needed.
Will it be shade or direct sunlight?
Time of day?
What kit do you have exactly? Any other lenses?
Do you have a tripod?
Do you have lighting kit? Strobes? If so, how many?
Do you know how to shoot in manual or use AP TV or other such settings?
Are they going to be on anything elevated like bleachers?
If not, you should consider a step ladder to get a higher PoV so you can see all their faces.

For us to help you you really need to give us more info besides the panicked "help me, how do i take photos" sort of question.

Your trouble with focus is likely due to using too large an aperture which gives you too little Depth of Field... that or bad camera holding technique if you're not using a tripod. If you don't understand DoF and it's relationship to Aperture, you may want to learn a bit more of the basics before taking on these sorts of jobs as it's important to get these things right.

With more info we're more likely to better answer you.

PS just curious, when you say "mostly a hobbyist".. what is the rest of you?

[Ania Photo]

Ok, if all you have is a telephoto lens, take it out as wide as you can. Go back as far as you can, and if you can step on a chair. When it comes to sharpness that has to do with aperture. There is a quick mode that might help if it is on your camera. This a dial by the shutter that has on it a picture of a face, a flower, a mountain, and so on. If you dial it to the mountain that would give you more of your photo in focus. Also the focus issue could have little to do with focus and more with blur. Some telephoto lenses if not held steady when extended tend to make a photo come out less sharp. So if that is the case it has to do with shutter speed and I might suggest that you invest in a tripod.

Hope this helps,

Stefanie