More Focus

[cynicaster]

The combo of multiple subjects and indoor lighting makes for a challenge, indeed.

If I were you, I’d find a room with a big window, set up a tripod, and use Av mode rather than M (controlling depth of field is the important thing here—which Av lets you do—and even if the camera selects a slowish shutter speed, unless your subjects cannot sit still, you should still be OK due to the tripod).

If the camera wants a shutter speed slower than ~1/30 then I’d bump the ISO.

Ahead of time, try some scenarios on one of the DoF calculators that have been mentioned to get a feel for how much DoF you have to work with using various settings.

I know DoF is confusing, but bear in mind that it’s not just the camera settings that dictate DoF—the distance of the focus plane from the camera also affects it (with farther away giving more DoF).

Since 2/3 of the available DoF will fall beyond the focus plane, it’s probably best to manually focus on the eyes of the closest subject using a zoomed in view on your LCD. If this still doesn’t get everybody’s eyes adequately sharp, you’re going to have to either stop down to get more DoF (i.e. use a numerically higher f/number), or re-arrange the subjects so that there is less variation in their individual distances from your lens.

Lastly, if you don’t have a remote shutter release, you might want to try a 2-second timer so that you don’t accidentally shake the camera when pressing the shutter button.