Photographing people (two or more in group)

Hi there, could I please have some advises on what would be the best

way ie f-stops to photograph a group of people . I focused on one

person and often missed the whole group or even the next person if

they are not in the same planar ie they are out of focus. I am

trying to photograph my two children but often one of the children is

out of focus. I use 70-200 IS on Elan7, Fuji film, portraiture style

and f-stop at 2.8 if I can. Thanks for your time.

Well, that all really depends...

 

A higher f/stop number (smaller aperture) yields a greater depth of field (more things are in focus), but obviously this comes at the expense of shutter speed.

 

Distance to the subject also comes into play, so backing up can help bring more people into focus. This comes at the expense of being able to fill the frame with your subject.

 

A third component is the focal length of your lens. A wide angle lens has a large depth of field, while super-telephotos are great at blurring everything but the subject in your photos.

 

If you have a set distance to subject and set focal length, then all you really have to do is choose an aperture and check the depth-of-field (DoF) preview button; that will tell you what will be in focus in your image. This is of course assuming you have enough time to do all of this, and that the resulting shutter speed will be sufficient.

James, although the first answer is correct I suspect you just want your children to be in focus. Make sure the light is reasonably good and use a good 400 speed film such as NPH400 or Portra 400UC to maintain shutter speed (make sure it is at least 1/250). Set your aperture to at least f/4.

Try to arrange the children in the same focal plane to keep them in focus.

Good luck

James, also set your lens at 70mm and get in close to your subjects to maintain depth of field. Focus on the eyes.

Regards

James

I believe there is a procedure with that particular camera that you follow to get the nearest and furthest subject in focus. I'm sure the manual will guide you pretty easily. I also saw a book available on shortcourses.com that might simplify the Canon manual you have.

Dan Ferrier

Gentlemen, I realy appreciate and thanks for your advices. It is quite difficult and time consuming however to use dof function/procedure when taking photograph of children as they won't stand still and wait for the camera. I take the point about trying to place them on the same focal plane though. Thanks all again. Cheers

With the lens at 70mm and at f/2.8 and a subject distance of 8 feet...

your near limit of acceptable sharpness is: 7.68 ft

and your far limit of accetable sharpness is: 8.34 ft

 

Thats not much depth of field to work with, which would explain why more people are out of focus.

 

You can try a number of things:

-Use a higher aperture number, such as 5.6 or 8. If there isnt enough light for an appropiate shutter speed at those apertures, then you can use a higher ISO of film or use a flash.

-Photograph where there is a lot of avaliable light so you can keep the desired ISO and not have to use flash

-Use a lens with a shorter focal length, which will increase youre depth of field at a given aperture

 

You might find this website helpful if you want to make depth of field calculations: http://dfleming.ameranet.com/dofjs.html

you can do it manually.. (set at least f/4) or use the A-DEP mode of the camera..

 

Keep both kids in the focus points and see what aperture setting is recommended by the camera..

 

I like my Elan II cus it let's you do the shiftable DEP.. chose first DEP point then the second and it then calculates the required aperture.. neaaaaaat...

>>portraiture style and f-stop at 2.8 if I can<<

 

Unfortunately, you CAN'T! If you want to photograph MORE than one person you have to increase you DOF, considerably so for groups and/or children (who often move even when posing).

 

Depending on the type of shooting (candids, posed, etc...) you'll have to set your aperture accordingly. You can do the simple math and come up with the f stop you'll need.