Do you ever get all your kids or family together to take a big group photo only to find out later that some of the people are out of focus? Â
Frustrating, right? Â The likely culprit… your aperture is probably too low. Â Unless everyone is standing on the same plain then the people behind and off to the sides will be out of focus. Â A lot of people think it has to do with the way they are focusing. Â Nope. Â Probably aperture. Â I always shoot groups at an aperture of 3.5 or higher to ensure that everybody is in focus. Â You can read more about aperture here.
This is helpful. The balance between getting good background bokeh but sharp foreground has been challenging for me. Since getting my new 50 1.4 mm I’ve had problems with knowing what aperture is best for more than one person. I only had a 18-55 mm before, so it’s taken some adjustment.
good tip. I always thought it was my focusing too. well, now i know.
I love how you always have such amazing locations. It’s one of the things I love about looking at all your pictures. I love the locations as much as the pictures.
You Rock!!
\m/
My question is for groups do you use a single point focus or auto focus points. I always struggle with this. I suppose if the aperature is set correctly, it won’t matter as much, but when I want that artistic flair I sometimes miss the mark. thanks.
love your pics and thanks again for all the tips you give. I go back and reference!
Ugh! I can’t stand it when I get out-of-focus shots! This is very helpful, even though I knew a bigger aperture number would do the trick, I never knew just what number was a good one to start with… I love these pictures!
I also struggle with this. I’ve tried different settings, but hadn’t narrowed it down to aperture. Thank you so much!
Thanks for the tip! I know a little (and I do mean little) about aperture…but for some reason never put two and two together to figure out that I needed to go up in aperture with the group shots so that everyone would be in focus. Thanks!
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You are wonderful Drew! I was just getting on my computer to research this question. If you use multi focus points can you get everyone clear and still have a good depth of field?
You know, I’ve struggled with this in the past couple of months and it’s really been throwing me off my game. When I read this post, it all kind of clicked in my head! (And helped last night when I wanted a shot of me and my best friend!)
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Yes! I learned this the hard way.
I shoot groups at about 5.6 or so to keep everyone in focus. But I’m working with a much lower end camera and lens than you.
It was terribly frustrating, though, the first time I made this mistake and came home to see all the pictures on my computer. Oy.
Thanks for the tip! No wonder my group pics haven’t been turning out using my 50 mm!
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