Distance from subject???

[Dave442]

would I use the focus points and JUST focus on her face or would I use the focus points that focus on all of her body??

1) the number of focus points used by the camera will not affect how many people are in focus in the shot.

would it be best to like a 5 to make sure she is in focus?

2) how many shots you take will have nothing to do with having your subject in focus.

I was going to use my 24mm today for the maternity shoot

3) you may have found that if you are a few paces away from someone that your 24mm lens is probably going to have more of the subject appearing in focus. But, as Traveller noted, the distortion can make body parts look unnatural.

 

[Designer]

.. how far away from them do I need to stand in order for them to be in focus?

Today, I am shooting my first maternity shoot and want to make sure that her whole body is in focus... so would I use the focus points and JUST focus on her face or would I use the focus points that focus on all of her body??

Yes, I know you've already got several good responses, but if you're up for yet one more, here's mine:

The way I look at portraiture, I would not invade someone's personal space. We all have some tolerance for people getting all up in our face and such, and some of us have less tolerance than others. So for me, I would probably stay at least 8 feet away, and more if I had the space in which to back up. You choice of lens should accommodate how far away you are. For me, I would try to shoot someone's portrait (single) with somewhere between 75mm and 150mm. Maybe a small group of three persons I might go with 75mm to 100mm if I had the space available. This gets me far enough away from my subject so my subject feels comfortable about having a camera pointed at them.

The camera will focus at any distance.

Your camera will use only one focus point in actuality, even if several points are available. By selecting one active point, you are directing the camera's focus mechanism to use that one point and no other. I would probably make the one point fall on her eyes, assuming the most common point of focus for portraiture.

Now for the depth of field (DOF). This can be tricky to learn, and most of us do not memorize lots of DOF calculations. Rather, we have calculated the DOF enough times that we have a pretty good guess at what the DOF will be for most common situations. So what you can do is make some calculations (use the on-line calculator) for:

1. your lens
2. your approximate distance
3. your camera's sensor
4. various apertures that you pre-select in order to do the calculations.

That way, you have already got the DOF figured for several apertures, and away you go!

 

[kitkatdubs]

Im going to try using my 50mm for practice. I will be shooting outside around 5PM so there will be plenty of light. I will just bump up my f/stop to 5 and hope that will be enough to get two small toddlers in focus while playing.

 

[kitkatdubs]

Thanks for the image above! Very helpful... wasn't aware of the distortion. I love my 50mm lens but not comfortable with it yet so I was going to use my 24mm today for the maternity shoot b/c I seem to know how to use it better for some reason, maybe b/c its wider.

A 24 mm lens, even on a crop body, will give lots of distortion, particularly when the subject is close and fills the frame.

Is a 35mm better than a 24mm? I randomly bought a 24mm without knowing much about photography, but now am think i should maybe invest in a 35mm?

 

[kitkatdubs]

.. how far away from them do I need to stand in order for them to be in focus?

Today, I am shooting my first maternity shoot and want to make sure that her whole body is in focus... so would I use the focus points and JUST focus on her face or would I use the focus points that focus on all of her body??

Yes, I know you've already got several good responses, but if you're up for yet one more, here's mine:

The way I look at portraiture, I would not invade someone's personal space. We all have some tolerance for people getting all up in our face and such, and some of us have less tolerance than others. So for me, I would probably stay at least 8 feet away, and more if I had the space in which to back up. You choice of lens should accommodate how far away you are. For me, I would try to shoot someone's portrait (single) with somewhere between 75mm and 150mm. Maybe a small group of three persons I might go with 75mm to 100mm if I had the space available. This gets me far enough away from my subject so my subject feels comfortable about having a camera pointed at them.

The camera will focus at any distance.

Your camera will use only one focus point in actuality, even if several points are available. By selecting one active point, you are directing the camera's focus mechanism to use that one point and no other. I would probably make the one point fall on her eyes, assuming the most common point of focus for portraiture.

Now for the depth of field (DOF). This can be tricky to learn, and most of us do not memorize lots of DOF calculations. Rather, we have calculated the DOF enough times that we have a pretty good guess at what the DOF will be for most common situations. So what you can do is make some calculations (use the on-line calculator) for:

1. your lens
2. your approximate distance
3. your camera's sensor
4. various apertures that you pre-select in order to do the calculations.

That way, you have already got the DOF figured for several apertures, and away you go!

Okay so I have DOF calculator on my phone... I still don't understand what exactly it all means. Could you explain what each element means? What

 

[Designer]

For your Canon camera (one of those listed will be your model), with a 50mm lens, and aperture f/5, focusing at 5 feet from your subject, your DOF is 6.8 inches total, with 3.21 inches in front of the focus, and 3.59 inches behind the point of focus.

To use this information, you should make sure that your subject is no deeper in depth than about 7 inches. You could probably get the person's face in focus, but maybe not her arms if her arms are crossed in front of her, and probably not a pregnant woman's abdomen, if her eyes are in proper focus. Then, if her children are standing in front of her, they will not be in focus. So then you have to change something about how your'e taking the photograph.

First; ask the children to stand even with their mother, so all three faces are about the same distance from your camera. Then, you might want to stop down a bit to increase the DOF.

 

[kitkatdubs]

For your Canon camera (one of those listed will be your model), with a 50mm lens, and aperture f/5, focusing at 5 feet from your subject, your DOF is 6.8 inches total, with 3.21 inches in front of the focus, and 3.59 inches behind the point of focus.

To use this information, you should make sure that your subject is no deeper in depth than about 7 inches. You could probably get the person's face in focus, but maybe not her arms if her arms are crossed in front of her, and probably not a pregnant woman's abdomen, if her eyes are in proper focus. Then, if her children are standing in front of her, they will not be in focus. So then you have to change something about how your'e taking the photograph.

First; ask the children to stand even with their mother, so all three faces are about the same distance from your camera. Then, you might want to stop down a bit to increase the DOF.

Okay, I thought I was reading the "inches" part wrong- wow, not much depth. So I'm thinking I should probably be 10-12 feet away which would give me more in focus. If I have the pregnant woman stand and one child on each side, who/what am I focusing on? Like the red focus dots, should I focus on the face of the pregnant woman or her belly or what??

 

[SCraig]

Okay so I have DOF calculator on my phone... I still don't understand what exactly it all means. Could you explain what each element means? What

Depth of field is a distance RANGE, it is not a single distance. The subject will start to come into focus at a certain distance from your camera, it will be in perfect focus at some distance, and then will start to go out of focus at some distance. The total distance between the near and far points is the depth of acceptable focus or depth of field.

In your example you chose a Canon 7D with a 50mm lens at f/5 focused at 5'-0". The near point of acceptable focus is at 4'-8.79" from the camera and the far point of acceptable focus is at 5'-3.59" from the camera. The total depth of field is 6.80 INCHES from the near point to the far point, or about a half a foot.

 

[kitkatdubs]

So heres my question then, what would YOU typically shoot a maternity/family portrait of 3 at? Like I just want them all in focus...????

 

[Designer]

Considering who is paying for the photos, I would definitely get the children's faces/eyes in focus.

As for just one subject, ordinarily I would think you would want the eyes in focus, but if she says "belly", then go for a shallow DOF, and blur her face, but get that belly in focus.

 

[kitkatdubs]

Considering who is paying for the photos, I would definitely get the children's faces/eyes in focus.

As for just one subject, ordinarily I would think you would want the eyes in focus, but if she says "belly", then go for a shallow DOF, and blur her face, but get that belly in focus.

I understand that part- but the red dots within the camera; do those control which part will mostly be "in focus? essentially? I'm not quite sure I understand what the red dots are for within the camera...

 

[vintagesnaps]

Since this is tonight, I would suggest a midrange aperture setting, maybe f5.6 or f4. You need enough depth of field for all of them to be in focus; f2.8 may not be enough. Maybe get a few shots at different aperture settings to make sure you'll have something with them all in focus. You'll need to stand at a distance that gets all of them in your viewfinder (head to toe).

Like Sparky said, I focus manually. If you're using focus points (which I haven't done in so long I have to think...) I'd usually use one closest to what I want in focus.



After this shoot, maybe come back on here - from what you're asking it sounds like you need to learn how to use your camera before you try this again.

To do this you need to know how to choose the aperture settings needed in any given situation. You need to know how to adjust your camera depending on the time of day, how sunny or cloudy it is, etc. And yes, experienced photographers know all this.

I'd suggest you go out with your camera and just take pictures; pick a subject (a tree? some flowers? whatever) and take a series of photos at different aperture settings. Write down what you did. Then look at the pictures and notice how much of the subject is in focus. Try it with different lenses so you can get some idea about how far/close you'll need to be. Practice shooting some scenery, maybe at a local park? and imagine how it would work once you get people in the scene. It take a lot of practice.

 

[SCraig]

So heres my question then, what would YOU typically shoot a maternity/family portrait of 3 at? Like I just want them all in focus...????

You couldn't pay me enough to shoot a maternity photo.

However for that type of subject with a 7D and 50mm lens @ 8' focal distance I'd use f/11 which will give about 3-1/2 feet of depth of field.

 

[The_Traveler]

I understand that part- but the red dots within the camera; do those control which part will mostly be "in focus? essentially? I'm not quite sure I understand what the red dots are for within the camera...

Did you ever read the manual?

 

[Designer]

I understand that part- but the red dots within the camera; do those control which part will mostly be "in focus? essentially? I'm not quite sure I understand what the red dots are for within the camera...

Here is a helpful website:

How to focus SLR camera focal point tips Nikon Canon