How to focus everything in a frame

Hi everyone...my family and I currently took a trip to Disney and although the

pictures I took are "good", there are some that I would have liked to be

better. One in particular was of my children standing in front of the Castle.

They are in focus, but the caste is soft and blurry. When I take pictures,

unless they are a portrait type, I would like for everything in my frame to be

equally sharp. Is this possible? Thanks in advance for your help!

Depth of field is that it's about & it will depend on the focal length of the lens, aperture and distance of the lens from your main subject. Try www.dofmaster.com for the basics and some useful data. Mastering hyperfocal focussing is useful for these situations.

Yes, you need deeper depth of field. To achive that, you need to use a small aperture, such as f11, f16. If you use a larger aperture such as f2.8 or perphas even faster, you'll get a blury background.

 

I don't know what camera you are using, but it pays to experiment around.

Well, I guess I should have included the fact that I am a complete amateur and no nothing about using an SLR...but would really like to learn. I currently have a Nikon D80 and would like to "for now" get the best results I can in the Auto mode. Thanks!

Also, I have been messing around with the settings (desperately trying to figure all this out), if I set the camera to Auto, all of the other settings are void...right? I am just afraid I have changed something or set something incorrectly and have no idea how to fix it. We have an event later on today and I would like to take some shots and rest easy knowing they will turn out.

Once upon a time when I was a teenager, I too was learning about aperture and depth of field, etc.

 

I suggest to use the A (aperture priority) exposure mode. I don't know which lens you are using, but vary the aperture using the sub-command dial in the front of your D80, just below the shutter release button, from its maximum, e.g. f3.5 or f2.8 or so to f8/f11/f16. You should see a difference in the depth of field.

 

The main issue is that your shutter speed could be slow in conjunction with f16, so also pay attention to camera shake when you use f16.

I am just using the lense that came with the camera (AF-S Nikkor 18-55 mm). I also tried pressing the WB button to the left of the monitor and changing it by rolling the mail control dial, and nothing changes. It looks to currently be set to A and 60 f 3.5 I am so overwhelmed with all this! I wanted a nice camera, but taking shots with my little Sony P&S was so much easier and everything was in focus! URGH!!!

Expiriment! Set up the camera on a tripod one day outside, take some photos that have

something in the foreground and the background, then shoot at every aperture. Put the

camera in A mode, and try shooting at every aperture you have, then look at it on the

computer and compare.

 

You will learn a LOT!

Yes, I definitely plan to do that...EXPERIMENT! I just switched to A and changed the aperture to 11. The shutter speed didn't change and shows to be at 60. When I take a shot with these settings, the shutter is very slow...is this the way it is suppose to be?

<p>If you are not interested in learning how to fully utilize your digital SLR, you should stick with a small P&S. The small sensor on digital P&S cameras makes it easier to keep everything in focus because of the deep depth of field. In this respect, digital P&S cameras are more forgiving when it comes to focusing.</p>

<P>Digital SLRs are more like 35mm SLRs; you have to be careful on where you place your focus point, and you have to be careful as to which aperture and focal length you are using. Keep in mind that it is not generally not possible to keep everything in focus in a picture that contains near and far subjects, unless you use a wider lens stopped down. It also depends on near and far your subjects are.</P>

Well, my plans are to eventually fully utilize and learn the D80. I am just trying to take things a step at a time. Ya gotta start somewhere and learn sometime...

As i new amateur myself i can tell you that the best way to learn is, fist of all, read the manual. Second, play with it, try all the settings in different situations. The D80 is a very capable camera and shooting only on Automatic mode means that, right now you are taking pictures with a very expensive point a shoot camera. Remember, is the photographer that makes the pictures, not the camera.

"I just switched to A and changed the aperture to 11. The shutter speed didn't change and shows to be at 60. When I take a shot with these settings, the shutter is very slow...is this the way it is suppose to be?"

 

If you have the flash on, in aperture priority mode it should be locked in at 1/60.

 

To get more things in focus behind your kids. You can increase f/stop number, use a shorter focal length, move your kids further back.

 

For a rule of thumb, shoot at 17-24mm at f/8 or f/11 and you should get better results.

Technically, the answer to the question in your first post is no, it is not possible to have everything in the frame be equally sharp. It is often possible for everything to appear acceptably sharp and in focus, but there is only one plane parallel to the plane of the sensor that actually IS perfectly in focus.

 

I suggest that you get a good basic book such as "The Basic Book of Photography" by Grimm and Grimm, to help you understand some of the theory. It's great to experiment, but you will learn more from your experiments if you have a theoretical framework to fit the results into. Otherwise you could just end up knowing a number of unconnected "tricks", settings that worked in the past, etc. I recommend finding a good book in addition to reading your manual and participating here. Good luck.

Use the slowest shutter speed and smallest aperture possible. It's hard to get anything out of focus at f/22. Also, don't zoom in - that restricts depth of field.

Missy T. If you are an absolute beginner, then you might find it usefull to work your way through the Nikon D80 on line tutorial. Here is the link http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d80/index.shtml.

 

Take your time and work your way through these pages. You WILL find it usefull as a starting point.

 

I hope this helps you out a little

If you don't care to mess with the aperture settings as others have suggested here, then just zoom the lens out to its widest setting when you want to get everything in the frame in focus, and frame the shot by changing the distance between you and your subject.

"It's hard to get anything out of focus at f/22. "

 

Unless your lens is limited by diffraction. f22 on MANY lenses yields everything fuzzy

because of this. so, in effect, it is actually hard often to get anything IN focus as f/22.

 

Rockwell explains it well.

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/diffraction.htm

Hi Missy. As the others have noted, what you're looking for is increased depth-of-field (DOF). Depending on the shot, sometimes less DOF is actually more desirable, as it makes the subject stand out from the background more and gives more of a 3D effect.

 

There are two ways to increase your DOF, and both are pretty easy, though each has its limitations. One is decreasing your aperture (f-stop), as the other posters have noted. This can be done by taking the camera out of full auto or program mode and putting it in A (for aperture priority) mode. Then the camera will allow you to adjust the f-stop while it adjusts the shutter speed to accommodate. FYI, f-stops number backwards, so a large number like f/11 means a small opening, which is what you want for increased DOF, whereas as a small number, like f/2.8, means a large opening, which you would want if you were trying to stop action.

 

Be aware, when you stop down to a small opening like f/11, f/16, f/22, etc., you let less light into the camera. The camera then has to slow down the shutter to compensate so it can still get a properly exposed image, and if you stop down too much, you can run into blurring problems as the camera has to resort to too slow of a shutter speed (hence why f-stops like f/2.8 are good for action, as they allow for faster shutter speeds to be used). As a general rule, you don't want the camera going slower than 1/(focal length of the lens) (i.e., if you're using a 250mm lens, you don't want to shoot slower than 1/250th of a second). Or you need to use a tripod (or a lens with vibration reduction capability), but tripods and VR won't help if you're shooting a moving subject.

 

The other way to get more DOF is to back up. The further away you are from your subject and the background, the more DOF increases. You can still use a telephoto lens to get your subject to fill the frame more. This won't completely solve your sharpness problem, not until you move so far back that your subject and your background are beyond what the lens considers to be "infinity" (i.e., the upper end of its focusing capabilities), but it will help. If anything, it will get the DOF to a point where you only need to stop down your f-stop a little bit instead of a lot, and won't run into problems with too slow a shutter speed.

 

I think the best advice given here has been practice, practice, practice. You've got a digital camera, there is no cost if you go out in your backyard and just shoot nothing in particular until you fill up your card over and over. The more you shoot, the more you'll come to understand what your camera can do and how to make it do it.

Hi Missy - I know it can be frustrating getting started. Perhaps you have a local community college or high school which offers adult education courses on introductory photography...after a few sessions you should be pretty comfortable experimenting to your heart's delight. BTW, yes, read the manual a couple of times...and experiment with what it suggests,since it's a digital camera...you can shoot, check out your results, and shoot again until you get a feeling for how things work...without incurring any additional costs. Lastly, perhaps you have a friend or neighbor who understands photography and who could patiently mentor you.

Missy- I agree with Mr. Lewis. An introductory college course will be very helpful here.

 

If you have a tri-pod, take three shots with the camera set in Aperture priority mode and set

the aperture to f/3.5, f/11 and f/22 and then see how this effects the depth of field. Do not

change your subject or point of focus.

 

The wb button you mentioned is for adjusting the white balance of the camera. At this point

I would leave it set to A for automatic.

Missy,

 

 

Was it full daylight or dusk or night time when you took the shots ?

 

If the camera thinks it needs a flash, due to the lighting, it may force the shutter to be a 1/60th of a second, which is what I think you saw, when the speed didn't change. You moved the aperture setting, but the shutter stayed at 60.

 

Here's the Readers Digest of the four main modes in a camera;

 

1) Program or AUTO

It will do everything for you, but you may not like the results, all the time. ( You just ran into this one ! )

 

2) Aperture Priority or A

You set the lens opening to get everything in focus or very little in focus or something in between. The camera sets the shutter speed for you. This works pretty well, unless the lighting is not so bright and the shutter needs to be set rather slow to make the picture come out. If this happens, you may get blury shots because you moved slightly when you took the picture.

 

3) Shutter Priority or S

You set the shutter to freeze the action ( Fast setting ) or perposely blur something ( slow setting )or something in between and the camera sets the aperture. Generally good for action stuff, but you can't control what is in focus...again.

 

4) Manual

You set everything and the camera keeps it's opinions to itself !

Missy,

 

Is the popup flash on your camera closed securely? If it's up, your camera will automatically go to 1/60, make sure it's closed.

Just wanted to send out a huge THANK YOU to all those who responded! I really appreciate you taking the time to lend a hand and help out! I definitely have my work cut out for me...but I think the results will be well worth it! So far, I love my new camera! Thanks again to everyone...

If your lens has distance marks on it, Google "hyperfocal focusing" (and search this site). It's a great trick to know with any camera.

 

Dave