Portrait DoF rule of thumb

[lee_dann]

<p>I am struggling to work out what Apertures to use for various outdoor portrait shots. By this I mean, is there a rule of thumb for setting apertures for different numbers of subject. Say one subject, then two, then three and so on. Id obviously like to have say both subjects in focus but blur the back ground nicely. <br>

I have heard of the sunny 11 rule where on a sunny day you set the aperture to f/11 then on a cloudy day set it to f/9. Does this apply to outdoor portraits.<br>

Your help with this will be much appriciated.</p>

[evan_goulet]

<p>You can use a depth of field calculator to determine your aperture setting for a given number of subjects, subject distance, and camera format:<br>

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/dofcalc.html<br>

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html</p>

[kerry_grim]

<p>There is an article on photo.net. Under the learing tab, select portraits.</p>

<p>The only rule I go by is...there are no rules. The so called sunny f11 "rule" is for shooting the moon and f16 is sunny daylight. Ignore all this.</p>

<p>You likely would not want poitraits taken in full sunlight because of shadows and the person squinting. Better to have the person in the shade. Generally you want less depth of field, so try in the 2.8 to 4 range and adjust shutter speed. Use manual. Experiment and see what works best. Some people think a fast lens like a 85 f1.2 is a necessity. But, the depth of field is extremely narrow, and usually best to stop down a bit.</p>

<p>If doing an environmental portrait, you want the subject and the background in focus, so you would use a a wide angle lens and approximately f11 to 16.</p>

<p>I don't see any reason to over-engineer the portraits by trying to determine depth of field. Focus on the eyes is crucial. Exposure on the face is important and a good reason to use manual exposure.</p>

<p> </p>

[mark_tate]

<p>There really is no rule of thumb for this as it is up to you just what you do and don't want in focus and the number of subjects makes no difference,<br>

as for the sunnyf16 rule , that was mainly for exposure as you will find that with an ISO of 100 and a standard shutter speed of 125th /s the correct f stop is about f16 , it is nothing to really do with DOF<br>

You may need to do some experimentation to work out your focusing distances for your particular lenses</p>

[plasma181]

<p>If you have manual focus, there is an old trick portrait photographers used to use. If they were forced to use a tight aperture, they would focus a little in front of their subjects, not directly on them. Because of the depth of field, their subjects would still be in focus, but the background would be blurred.</p>

<p>I'm guessing you have to be really good to pull this off. </p>

[kevin_delson]

<p>I would not call them rules; guidelines is a better choice of words.</p>

<p>The DOF you select is dependant on a few things.</p>

<p>1) Artistic creativity<br>

2) FL of lens<br>

3) Distance from subject</p>

<p>All of the above inter-relate.</p>

<p>Where care needs to be excercised is shooting in close with wide open apertures.<br>

(i.e) 50mm @ 1.8 from 3 feet. Focus & recompose will frustrate the beginner until they learn<br>

about shooting (off axis) in that scenario as well as choosing focus points to negate the need for focus & recompose.</p>