How can get everything equally focused while shooting?

[coolhandluke67]

I am shooting with a canon t3i just fyi.
So I tried shooting something, but certain things were in focus and others weren't. I know this depends on aperture and shutter speed. But what should I set it to? After searching I saw that 1/60 is good shutter speed if your shooting a 30 fps which I am. But what should I set the aperture?

I tested it earlier with the aperture at 3.5 and SS at 1/60. And I noticed that the stuff in the foreground became more focused then the main subject. So I changed the aperture to 10 and then further to 29 (the highest) but I didnt notice barely any difference at all. I am so confused at this point... Hopefully someone can help. All I want is to make everything equally focused!

Below is a link showing you the set up. Me and my girlfriend are about a meter away from the camera, and the camera is mounted.
The first pic is before I changed anything. And the second pic if after I changed the SS and Aperture. Notice that the owl (the thing on the bottom in the middle) is out of focus at first. And in the other picture after playing around with the settings the owl is in better focus then everything else.

first pic
Dropbox - Tuesday, May 31

second pic
Dropbox - Wednesday, Jun 1

 

[Ysarex]

You're not controlling where the camera is focused. In the first photo it's focused back and in the 2nd photo it's focused forward. You should adjust the camera to focus on you and your girlfriend.

Everything equally focused is not an option. Lenses focus on a flat plane. Behind and in front of that plane focus falls off progressively as you move away from the plane. We rely on depth of field (DOF) to control how fast and how severely that focus fall off occurs. Read: Understanding Depth of Field in Photography You should be able to take the photo you want here with reasonable results. You need to place the focus plane on you and your girlfriend and then use a smaller aperture (f/11 to f/16 should do it).

Joe

P.S. Controlling where your camera focuses is your primary problem here. Your camera is equipped with an auto-focus system and by default is typically set to have multiple focus points active. You need to get your camera manual (available online) and read up on how that AF system is functioning so you can get it to focus where you need it focused.

 

[beagle100]

I am shooting with a canon t3i just fyi.
So I tried shooting something, but certain things were in focus and others weren't. I know this depends on aperture and shutter speed. But what should I set it to? After searching I saw that 1/60 is good shutter speed if your shooting a 30 fps which I am. But what should I set the aperture?

I tested it earlier with the aperture at 3.5 and SS at 1/60. And I noticed that the stuff in the foreground became more focused then the main subject. So I changed the aperture to 10 and then further to 29 (the highest) but I didnt notice barely any difference at all. I am so confused at this point... Hopefully someone can help. All I want is to make everything equally focused!

Below is a link showing you the set up. Me and my girlfriend are about a meter away from the camera, and the camera is mounted.
The first pic is before I changed anything. And the second pic if after I changed the SS and Aperture. Notice that the owl (the thing on the bottom in the middle) is out of focus at first. And in the other picture after playing around with the settings the owl is in better focus then everything else.

first pic
Dropbox - Tuesday, May 31

second pic
Dropbox - Wednesday, Jun 1

yes, you are probably not choosing the correct AF focus point or letting the camera choose it. Select the focus point on you!

 

[wfooshee]

The camera probably uses the center focus point by default, and there's nothing in the center of the picture except the background.

 

[fmw]

You can't get everything in perfect focus but you can get closer and closer to that the smaller the aperture you use.

 

[dennybeall]

Using a finite set you really want to go with manual focus and focus on the spot where the action is located. If by yourself set an object at the spot and set focus on that. You can then go for the highest f-stop that will work with the amount of light you have available. There is a reason that TV and movies use very bright lights...............

 

[Dave442]

Yes, as Joe noted you want to learn about the plane of focus, DOF, and how to set your focus point.

Based on you having two people in the frame from a meter away (and the exaggerated size of your hands) I expect you are around an 18mm focal length.

At the aperture of f/3.5 you have a total of somewhere around 0.4 meters that will appear in focus when focused at any point 1 meter away and 18mm focal length. At f/10 and focused at 1 meter distance you had things in focus from 0.68 meters to 1.85 meters, probably everything in that scene. So then going to an even smaller aperture size like f/22 will not help and will just require more light or raising the ISO.

As you can measure the distances between the camera and the close and far subjects you can determine the aperture that will make everything appear in focus without having to raise the ISO or add additional lights (for the photo you can also lower the shutter speed, but below 1/60th you may have some blur if someone moves a hand or tilts their head).

If you are going to measure distances then measure from the sensor plane mark "⦵" that is on the camera body (you don't really have to be that exact but it is good practice).

 

[donny1963]

I am shooting with a canon t3i just fyi.
So I tried shooting something, but certain things were in focus and others weren't. I know this depends on aperture and shutter speed. But what should I set it to? After searching I saw that 1/60 is good shutter speed if your shooting a 30 fps which I am. But what should I set the aperture?

I tested it earlier with the aperture at 3.5 and SS at 1/60. And I noticed that the stuff in the foreground became more focused then the main subject. So I changed the aperture to 10 and then further to 29 (the highest) but I didnt notice barely any difference at all. I am so confused at this point... Hopefully someone can help. All I want is to make everything equally focused!

Below is a link showing you the set up. Me and my girlfriend are about a meter away from the camera, and the camera is mounted.
The first pic is before I changed anything. And the second pic if after I changed the SS and Aperture. Notice that the owl (the thing on the bottom in the middle) is out of focus at first. And in the other picture after playing around with the settings the owl is in better focus then everything else.

first pic
Dropbox - Tuesday, May 31

second pic
Dropbox - Wednesday, Jun 1

If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh, just because you have a 1.8 lense or 2.8 lens vs a 3.5 lens doesn't mean it's going to blur the background stopping up to 1.8 or 2.8 , of course using aperture 1.8 vs aperture 5.6 is going to be easier because when you STOP Down to apertures like F8 or F10 , your getting a high dept of field, but if your focusing on your and it t is closer to the camera vs the background then you start to blur the background in other words if you take a picture of some one and your like 3 feet away from them and your focused on them, then using apertures like 1.8 will blur the background much easier , depending on how close your subject is to the background is another factor, and what your focal length is that your using..
How ever if you want everything all sharp and focused, then best way to do that is to make sure your at least 10 feet away from your main subject and your using aperture's like F-16 or even F-22, this will ensure everything is in focus.. the higher the F-stop number the easier it will be to get everything in focus..
That is why people want to use a lens that is capable of f 2.8 and lower.
people go crazy about bokeh,, it's like a trend these days, eveyr one wants bokeh, they all think it's the best way, but not all the time..
They are times you want the background to complement the foreground, , but not dominate either..
how every they are photographers that take every portrait shot with bokeh which is stupid because it gets boring if everything you have is with an out of focus background... but they keep doing it..
Yes some times it's nice to blur the background to draw attention on your subject, but as i said if every picture you have is that way it's all boring..
You don't have to do it that way all the time just because every one says bokeh, is best,, it's just a style of a portrait and every one of your's don't have to have bokeh......
I often like a nice background to make a much more interesting picture..

Donny

 

[Ysarex]

If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh, ....

Background blur due to shallow DOF is not bokeh. You're confusing the DOF loss of focus (blur) with the visual character of the blur that is a property of the specific lens used.

Joe

 

[donny1963]

If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh, ....

Background blur due to shallow DOF is not bokeh. You're confusing the DOF loss of focus (blur) with the visual character of the blur that is a property of the specific lens used.

Joe

I wasn't talking about background blur due to Shallow DOF, i was refering to focal length zoomed on subject..

 

[Ysarex]

If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh, ....

Background blur due to shallow DOF is not bokeh. You're confusing the DOF loss of focus (blur) with the visual character of the blur that is a property of the specific lens used.

Joe

I wasn't talking about background blur due to Shallow DOF, i was refering to focal length zoomed on subject..

You said; "If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh," Blurring the background is not called bokeh regardless of how that blur is achieved.

You said; "Yes some times it's nice to blur the background to draw attention on your subject, but as i said if every picture you have is that way it's all boring..
You don't have to do it that way all the time just because every one says bokeh, is best,, it's just a style of a portrait and every one of your's don't have to have bokeh......"

Again you are using the term bokeh to refer to a blurred or out-of-focus background (regardless of how that blur is achieved). That is not bokeh.

You are confusing bokeh with background blur.

Joe

 

[donny1963]

If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh, ....

Background blur due to shallow DOF is not bokeh. You're confusing the DOF loss of focus (blur) with the visual character of the blur that is a property of the specific lens used.

Joe

I wasn't talking about background blur due to Shallow DOF, i was refering to focal length zoomed on subject..

You said; "If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh," Blurring the background is not called bokeh regardless of how that blur is achieved.

You said; "Yes some times it's nice to blur the background to draw attention on your subject, but as i said if every picture you have is that way it's all boring..
You don't have to do it that way all the time just because every one says bokeh, is best,, it's just a style of a portrait and every one of your's don't have to have bokeh......"

Again you are using the term bokeh to refer to a blurred or out-of-focus background (regardless of how that blur is achieved). That is not bokeh.

You are confusing bokeh with background blur.

Joe

that is what people are calling it.
How ever i never have never will call it that , for one thing i'm not a Blur the background nut..

 

[Ysarex]

If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh, ....

Background blur due to shallow DOF is not bokeh. You're confusing the DOF loss of focus (blur) with the visual character of the blur that is a property of the specific lens used.

Joe

I wasn't talking about background blur due to Shallow DOF, i was refering to focal length zoomed on subject..

You said; "If your trying to blur the background which some call bokeh," Blurring the background is not called bokeh regardless of how that blur is achieved.

You said; "Yes some times it's nice to blur the background to draw attention on your subject, but as i said if every picture you have is that way it's all boring..
You don't have to do it that way all the time just because every one says bokeh, is best,, it's just a style of a portrait and every one of your's don't have to have bokeh......"

Again you are using the term bokeh to refer to a blurred or out-of-focus background (regardless of how that blur is achieved). That is not bokeh.

You are confusing bokeh with background blur.

Joe

that is what people are calling it.

No, that is not what people are calling it. Some people who are confused make that mistake. Other people don't make that mistake.

How ever i never have never will call it that , for one thing i'm not a Blur the background nut..

You just did call it that. You wrote two sentences in your previous post in which you equated bokeh with "blur the background." Here again are your two sentences: "Yes some times it's nice to blur the background to draw attention on your subject, but as i said if every picture you have is that way it's all boring..
You don't have to do it that way all the time just because every one says bokeh, is best,, it's just a style of a portrait and every one of your's don't have to have bokeh......" You clearly use the word bokeh to refer to the topic of those two sentences which you wrote as "blur the background".

Joe

 

[Braineack]

bo·keh
bōˈkā/
noun
PHOTOGRAPHY

1. the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens.