Formal shots at a church, what settings do you use?

[marknagel]

Curious what most people use for f-stop on their formal shots 1 to 10 people? I

ended up using f/4 to make sure I had enough DoF to catch everyone and

sharpness, but I would have like a bit less DoF for a better background blur

(f/2.8). I was 10 feet away and the background was about the same distance from

the subjects (24-70 f/2.8).

 

I know this is a pure compromise of DoF vs Boken and I understand the

relationship, But I'm curious what most of you use for these shots?

 

Thanks

Mark

[sandra_schaffer]

Flash and F5.6 or F8.

Shutter speed depends on ambient light.

 

If I want to get rid of the back ground, I increase the shutter speed to make it dark.

 

You can go with a shallow DOF and a "kiss" of flash. I have done that as well.. if it is bright outside you may need to use a polarizer if you also use flash if you want to stay below the synch speed. BUT you CAN go over the synch speed outside on a sunny day and see little change in the photos because the film reads enough of the ambient light.. oh yeah.. it works for digital capture too.

[bdp]

1 person, maybe F2.8-4

2+ usually 5.6 - 8 to make sure everyone's in focus. If you have people in a single, even row, maybe 4, but if they're 2-3+ deep, defintely 8 for me.

[edsel_adams]

Im from the F8-F11 school.

[michael_madio]

f/5.6 - f/8

[al_kaplan1]

f/8 to f/11. On rare occasions maybe f/5.6. For the most part people are looking for happy smiling faces and sharp correctly exposed pictures. Good bokeh can be a plus, but besides other photographers nobody really gives it much mind.

[ni_gentry]

somewhere between f/4 and f/11. depends on the ambient light, what controlled lighting I

use or don't use, etc.<p>

Also, depth of field & blurring the background will depend on your distance to the subject,

the distance from the subject to the background, and the focal length of your lens. Also have

to think about how the subjects are arranged. There is no perfect f-stop for every situation.

[marknagel]

Thanks, very helpful! I thought I was too stopped down at f/4. Now I feel better.

 

M

[pete_s.]

I was hoping everybody would say what camera they use as dof will not be the same for different sensor/film size. I know Al is 35mm film though ;-)

[picturesque]

f5.6, 35mm uncropped digital (f4 for cropped digital), at about 35mm (uncropped) angle of view, for rows up to 4 deep, closely packed. You can cut it pretty close if you look up likely distances, etc. using dof master, but a margin of error never hurt. Plus, why blur church altar backgrounds? Most people want to see them pretty sharp. Foliage backgrounds are another story. For medium format, under the same circumstances as above, f8 with a normal lens, f5.6 with a wide angle.

[kari douma]

Usually F8, Sometimes F5.6. Rarely wider than F5.6 on a group. Fuji S3, with my 17-55, usually around 35-55.