[yozza]

I am looking for what settings you guys use for getting focus on more than one set of eyes in a shot on the k1. Shooting in aperture priority or manual i have tried afs, auto9 points, which only gave me one person in focus 50% of the time, with the camera is making the decision. Is this just a matter of increasing my aperture higher, or is there something better? Thanks

[enoeske]

I am looking for what settings you guys use for getting focus on more than one set of eyes in a shot on the k1. Shooting in aperture priority or manual i have tried afs, auto9 points, which only gave me one person in focus 50% of the time, with the camera is making the decision. Is this just a matter of increasing my aperture higher, or is there something better? Thanks

If all the eyes in the group are in the same focal plane, they will be in focus. The depth of the plane is determined by a number of factors, but with out changing focal length or shooting position, only the aperture alter it. You just need a narrower aperture to increase the depth of field.

[clackers]

. Is this just a matter of increasing my aperture higher

Correct.

That's all.

If these are posed shots, not candids, tell your particpants to try to manouevre so all their eyelashes are the same distance from the lens.

You can be creative.

A common way with groups in rows is in fact to get up on a chair and shoot down on them so that there are similar distances between the faces of those in the front and those in the back.

[yozza]

Oh that's interesting, so do you use auto 9 still in afs with this, or would i maybe be safer using afc with back button focus to be safer if there is any movement?

[clackers]

Single point, aim at the eye, not the head or person as a whole.

Watch the focus point goes to the eyeball and not the nose (it's closer) or the brow (it's a clearer line).

You can focus and recompose if you want to use the central point and you know your aperture will cover the difference.

I do use back button focus, but it's not important in this situation.

[yozza]

I thought single point was shooting just the one person

[clackers]

I thought single point was shooting just the one person

?

You have had problems because you've tried to shoot two people, and found you're only getting one sharp.

It's because whether there is one person or eight, the camera sensor has only one focal plane, and you have to work with that.

So choose your point, and arrange everyone around it!

Auto 9 is asking the camera to look under each of 9 AF points and choose something that is closest to the lens, Yozza.

Do you really want that? ;D

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Last edited by clackers; 12-01-2016 at 05:22 PM.

[C_Jones]

I am looking for what settings you guys use for getting focus on more than one set of eyes in a shot on the k1. Shooting in aperture priority or manual i have tried afs, auto9 points, which only gave me one person in focus 50% of the time, with the camera is making the decision. Is this just a matter of increasing my aperture higher, or is there something better? Thanks

Try to get the subject(s) positioned at a similar distance from your camera, you should be in Manual mode to have full control, focus at the most common distance, the Aperture setting has to be at a high enough number to give you the desired depth of field to cover your subject(s) without loss of detail, and take test shots to find out if your Aperture setting and others are providing the type image you need. Adjust settings as needed, retaining the necessary Aperture. AF.C and AF Area "Spot" mode are not confining as long as you focus at a sensible point/area. You might want to start with an Aperture like F13 and adjust ss needed, depending on how deep your subject(s) positioning is.

[clackers]

Just to show you, Yozza, this was taken with either the FA77 or DA*55 at f2.2 in low light conditions, so there was very little margin for error.

While nice, how much better would it have been if I'd noticed that the ring is not in the same plane as the eyes and the flowers?

I could have focused on the flowers instead of the eyes, and narrowed down a bit to extend the DoF to the ring in front and the eyes at the back, or I could have asked for the model to alter her pose so the ring finger was back and across, at the same level as the flowers. Alternatively, she could have rotated her body a bit and pushed/turned her face forward.

The problem is no different to you photographing three people, actually.

[yozza]

"I could have focused on the flowers instead of the eyes, and narrowed down a bit to extend the DoF to the ring in front and the eyes at the back, or I could have asked for the model to alter her pose so the ring finger was back and across, at the same level as the flowers. Alternatively, she could have rotated her body a bit and pushed/turned her face forward"

Thankyou Clackers and C_Jones for that example,

So from what i understand increasing dof should be the focus to bring more into focus versus narrower which would make sense with 2-3 people as well, and as C_Jones mentioned starting at around f13. The part i seem to be missing here is with an aperture such as this, wouldn't the focus point be less irrelevant? I will be using single point afs, as yes it does make sense with what you said with a9.

[wsteffey]

Could one just move back (away) from the group with a longer lens, 135mm for example, and help get more faces in focus?

[clackers]

, and as C_Jones mentioned starting at around f13. The part i seem to be missing here is with an aperture such as this, wouldn't the focus point be less irrelevant? .

Dropping to f13 means you now have a large margin of error. Narrow apertures are common in flash portrait, landscape and product photography, where you really want sharp results.

My problem resulted from using f2.2, because a soft background and low natural light levels is often found in bridal photography.

[clackers]

Could one just move back (away) from the group with a longer lens, 135mm for example, and help get more faces in focus?

It's a tradeoff, Wsteffy, because the longer lens makes things worse, increasing the distance makes things easier.