Focusing Multiple Subjects (Family Portraiture)

<p>I have friends that have asked me to take some family portraits for them, but I'm much more familiar with landscape/nature photography. I need some advice, please!<br>

Specs: I have a D40, 18-55mm lens, and 55-200mm lens. I'll be shooting outdoors, w/2 adults and 2 children. They want everything from full-body shots of the whole family to just head-shots of the 2 kids together.<br>

I'm pretty good at composing the "interesting" shots, just from my experience with nature stuff, but my problem comes in trying to shoot the "standard" family portrait. It seems like any time I try to shoot multiple subjects (on the same plane...or at least close to the same plane) and the torso up variety, I end up with one subject obviously in focus, and the others are not as crisp. I've read in other threads about adjusting my aperture, but it doesn't seem to help when I'm shooting straight-on at my subjects.<br>

So, my open-ended question is: Help! What do I use and how do I shoot it?</p>

<p>I have the same setup you do, and found that when I want to take group pix using the 18-55 I need f5.6 or more to get more than 2 people in focus. On the 55-200 I have to use at least f11 to get more than 2 people sharp. You also must use a tri-pod unless you are in direct sunlight, but direct light will wash out your pix.</p>

<p>You need to research "depth-of-field". As a general answer, I would set your 18-55mm at f8, take a shot, and then evaluate it. If any of the subjects are not in focus, stop the lens down by a stop or two and repeat the process. At some point (depth-of-field will increase a bit each time you stop the lens down) , all subjects will be in focus.</p>

<p>Having the subjects on the same plane and being perpendicular to them will be benificial.</p>

<p>elliot is correct, this is all about depth of field. f/8-f/11 should ensure everyone's in focus, provided your shutter is fast enough. the challenge with a slowish variable aperture lens stopped down for wide DoF is getting a fast enough shutter. but this shouldn't be an issue outdoors in good lighting.</p>

<p>Make sure your point of focus is your closest subject. Old cameras and prime lens use to have depth of field scales which could tell you what was in focus. You may need to move your focusing point (off dead center) if you are autofocusing. If you can shoot f 5.6 to F8 you might get a decent shot.</p>

<p>Here's a link to an <a href="http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html"><strong>online depth of field calculator</strong> </a> . Plug in the information for your camera, lens and information about the distance and it will calculate the appropriate aperture and/or hyperfocal setting.</p>