Shooting Families in Low Light Situations Outdoors

[teena]

Hi Everyone...I just bought a Cannon T1 digital camera and I purchased a 50MM lens F1.8. I am looking to photograph families outdoors but I seem to have a problem with focusing. A lot of my subjects are turning out blurry. It is possible to photograph a family outdoors in the shade around 3:30pm using a f1.8 and higher shutter speed to not catch movement? I thought using f1.8 will only leave a small amount in focus and the rest blurry. I have read the rule of thirds but dont understand it much. With a family I shouldnt focus on one person but in the middle, right?..so that everyone will be in focus. Any help is much appreciated. Teena

 

[bazooka]

Depending on how far away from the group you are, if you are using an aperture of 1.8, you may have issues with some of them being in focus and others not. It's probably going to be best to use an aperture around f/8. But you'll either have to play around with it or use a DoF calculator to find out exactly what you want your aperture to be to get the entire group in focus while blurring the background as much as possible.

I doubt it's an issue with motion blur considering the time of day, but if you could post an example, we could be more specific.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum Teena.

I've moved your thread out where it will get more views, you can still make an introduction post to say Hi, if you like.

I'd suggest picking up a book like 'Understanding Exposure', to help you pick up the basics of photography. There are some basic principles at work here and a little knowledge can go a long way.

Firstly, it would help if you could post some examples of the results you are getting. Then we could more accurately diagnose the problem.

Blur is usually a result of two things. Either the shutter speed isn't fast enough to freeze movement (by either the subjects or the camera) or it's just out of focus.

Using a large aperture like F1.8, will help you to get a faster shutter speed. Also, using a higher ISO setting can help you to get a faster shutter speed. To shutter speed that you need, will depend on the movement, but for people who aren't moving around, 1/90 or 1/125 should be fast enough. Maybe 1/60 if they are fairly still.

As for focus, you will need to understand Depth of Field. That is the range of distance (from the camera) that will be in focus. It varies, depending on the lens aperture, the focal length, the type of camera, the distance to the subject etc. But we main use the lens aperture to control it. The larger the aperture, the more shallow the DOF. So if you are shooting with your largest aperture of F1.8, your DOF will be at it's thinnest. So if you are shooting a group, it could be entirely possible that if you focus on someone, the other people might be out of focus...especially if they are closer or farther from the camera.

To solve this, you need to 'stop down' the lens (use a smaller aperture)...maybe something like F2.8, or F4 or F5.6 etc. This will cause your shutter speed to be slower (longer) so you have to keep an eye on the settings.

The DOF extends 1/3 back from the point you focus on, and 2/3 further from your focus point. So when you focus on a group of people, choose someone who is closer to the front, rather than someone who is at the back. Of course, if you can position the group so that their faces are close to being on the same plane (distance from camera) that will help them to all be in focus.

 

[KmH]

A 50 mm f/1.8 lens set to f/1.8, distributes the depth-of-field (DOF) much closer to 50/50 (about 54/46).

As aperture size is reduced, the distribution of DOF moves towards (and eventually beyond) the 1/3 (33) in front to 2/3 (66) behind distribution.

Here is a good tutorial on depth-of-field: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm as well as many other goofd tutorials on digital photography.

 

[Christie Photo]

So when you focus on a group of people, choose someone who is closer to the front, ...

Yup. In fact, I focus on whoever is closest to the camera.

Most all of your depth of field (acceptable focus) is behind the person you focus on. f1.8 might be just a bit shallow DoF for a group. I suggest something more like f4 with that lens.

-Pete

 

[ghache]

So when you focus on a group of people, choose someone who is closer to the front, ...

Yup. In fact, I focus on whoever is closest to the camera.

Most all of your depth of field (acceptable focus) is behind the person you focus on. f1.8 might be just a bit shallow DoF for a group. I suggest something more like f4 with that lens.

-Pete

You are right, at F1.8 at abour 10 feet the only thing thats going to be in focus is probably the person face your focusing on.
i shoot my 50 1.8 at 2.8 and up most of the time since its sharper at 2.8 - 4