AF for group shot

[deafAVguy]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum.

I have an EOS 70D with a 50mm lens.  Suppose I have a group portrait with two people standing to the left, a banner, and then a third person standing to the right of the banner.

I want all of them to be in focus but with the little focus boxes in the focus grid, how do you tell the camera to put everyone in focus in this shot?  If the focus boxes are only on one or two people, then the banner and the other person won't be in focus.

Thank you.

[cicopo]

There are many ways to do this but the easiest is to understand Depth of Field. As you increase the F number (numerically) it increases. Set the camera to F 8 & stand back a bit with extra room on each side of the people on the outside (in other words frame wider than necessary) & unless there's a big difference in distances between the people relative to your camera & the banner it will all be in focus. You can also look up a DoF calculator on line & play with it for a better idea of exact distances that work. 

Framing wider than needed allows cropping to common print sizes which most full frames DO NOT coincide with.

[deafAVguy]

Hi and thanks for this tip.  I will play around with the F-stop and experiment.

One question.  I have the camera set to the P setting.  Is there another way to do this without having to change the F stop? Is there some setting in the AF - perhaps adding more focus dots in the AF grid - that will allow me to get them all focused?

Thank you.

[kvbarkley · Accepted solution]

This is what you need the late A_Dep mode for.

Generally, if you are far enough away and the people and banner are in the same plane, then they should all be in focus. All the focus points that are in focus will light up, is everything you want in focus? if not, make sure you are square to the group, or have the ones at the edges of the frame step a little closer so that everything you want in focus is equidistant from the camera.

[deafAVguy]

Great tip thanks!

[cicopo]

It isn't related to how many AF points you use. The camera & lens can ONLY focus on 1 plane relative to where you shoot from. After that has been done Depth of Field which is directly related to the f stop used takes over to determinew what will be in focus either side of that specific plane. (in front of & behind it).

[cicopo]

Take a few moments to read this.   

http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/

[deafAVguy]

Wow, great tutorial!  Thanks.

[cicopo]

You're welcome. Although it's from Canon it applies to any brand of camera because the rules of photography aren't brand specific.