Sounds like you need to stop it down a little. Try a larger number for your aperture value..

'I reject your reality and substitute my own' -Adam Savage..

Thanks. A few people suggested that I use landscape setting when taking group photos. I am concerned about the background not being blurry enough. Any recommendations?..

If you set your camera on aperature priority, you can try the same photo at a number of different aperature settings. You can test this with a group of people in a configuration that you might normally be interested in photographing. The more wide open your aperature (smaller aperature number, eg f 2.8) the less will be in focus as a previous poster mentioned, and the smaller your aperature (larger aperature number, eg f 16) the more will be in focus. If I'm doing a large group shot, I try to focus on someone in the middle of the group and stop the lens down far enough to keep everyone else in clear focus.Duncan Bristowhttp://www.pbase.com/duncanbristow..

Wildcarnival wrote:.

Thanks. A few people suggested that I use landscape setting whentaking group photos. I am concerned about the background not beingblurry enough. Any recommendations?.

It also depends on the focal length. There is a huge different in depht of field when using wide (ex. 10mm) compared to tele (ex. 100mm)..

Big group from a distance can often be taken in wide, if there is no lines/buldings or so, which can get distortion..

Smaller groups will often be better from a distance and ex. 100-150 mm tele. It will give much better "bokeh" (soft background)..

But as always - like me - if you're not sure, take more than the only one picture but serveral at the chosen focal lenght at many different apartures. Always use Aperture mode and be sure the shutter speed is okay..

That's only my opinion. Good luck..

Micrahttp://www.pbase.com/ibolesen..

You need to get to grips with how depth of field works. Longer focal length and wider apetures, and a short distance to the subject, all decrease depth of field; shorter focal lengths and smaller apertures, and greater distance to the subject, all increase depth of field..

Play with the depth of field calculator here to get an idea: it's really useful... it sounds like for your group shot you want a depth of field that extends a couple of feet in front of and behind someong in the middle of the group, but no more..

Http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html.

You may also need to 'focus and recompose', using someone in the middle of the group as the focus point, to ensure that the group is all in focus..

Best wishesMike..

Wildcarnival wrote:.

I've been trying different settings (closest subject, dynamic areaetc) when taking group photos (up to 4 people). For some reason, mycamera (D70S) continues to focus only on the closest subject, makingother people appear blurry. What setting should I be using (apartfrom manual focus) so all subjects appear to be in focus? Thanks..

Well, cameras can only focus on a plane perpendicular* to the camera (they can't focus on multiple objects that are not on the same plane). If you want more people in focus, you need to increase the DoF. This will make other objects (people) that are not on the focus plane appear "acceptably sharp.".

The best way to do that is to stop-down the lens (use a smaller aperture / larger f-number). For a group of 4 people, I would use at least f5.6 or f6.3 to make sure everyone is in focus. If you really want to be sure, use f8..

Moving farther to get more DoF won't really do much, since you will zoom in to get the framing you want, and that will negate the DoF difference. The same thing with using a wider lens to get more DoF, since you will move closer to get your framing. Basically, when the framing is constant, DoF is primarily based on f-stop**..

*Tilt shift lenses can make the focus plane non-perpendicular..

** This is assuming that focus distance is much less than the hyperfocal distance...

Wildcarnival wrote:.

Thanks. A few people suggested that I use landscape setting whentaking group photos. I am concerned about the background not beingblurry enough. Any recommendations?.

If you want blurry backgrounds, but keep all the people in focus, you should shoot at small apertures (large f-number) with a long telephoto lens. If you have the room, shoot with as long a lens as you can. This will keep the DoF large (because of the small aperture) and give you lots of background blur (because of the long telephoto lens)..

Please note that background blur and DoF are not the same. The background blur is caused by objects being outside the DoF, but the amount of background blur in a photo more dependent on focal length...

Thank you all for your comments. I will certainly test new settings and hopefully my photos will be "sharper". Thanks...