Focusing at different distances

[Uzzfuzz]

Please could someone tell me how do you focus clearly when the subjects are at different distances from the camera...so that they both remain clear..e.g two faces... one closer than the other from camera.
Thanks

[patrick9x9]

Uzma, you would choose a higher number f-stop. say you want to intentionally blur the bg, perhaps f4 depending on the scene, for everything in focus for landscapes, i use genearly f11 to f22. It would depend on how far apart your subjects are. I'm guessing not very far, perhaps try f8 or f9 to start and experiment till you get what you like

[Destructor]

Uzma,

Please carefully read the following article: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...h-of-field.htm

All you need to do is to set required DoF (depth of field). If the article does not help you, please return back to the tread with your shooting details (a photo and EXIF data would be more than enough).

Regards,
Pavel

[Manfred M]

The best way to figure this out is to try experimenting. Assuming that your are shooting with a camera that allows you to set it to aperture priority. Start shooting it wide open, and reduce your aperture setting by a full f-stop for each shot; f2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f16, f/22. Your camera will adjust your shutter speed accordingly, so hopefully your lighting is good enough that your shutter speed does not drop so low that you get motion blur. You should also have your ISO setting at something reasonable for the lighting conditions.

Take the results back to your computer and see where your subjects are in focus. Also remember that a wide angle shot (zoomed out) has a lot more depth of field than a shot where you have zoomed in. As mentioned before, this is called "depth of field".

[Uzzfuzz]

Thank u

[Uzzfuzz]

Thanks

[Geoff F]

The alternative, Uzma, is to take a number of shots at different focusing distances then merge them with suitable software. Possibly a bit more complex than you intended though.

But in case you want to try it out. Shoot with a tripod and don't move the camera at all. The subjects should also remain static. Work out a suitable overall setting for aperture and shutter speed, etc, beforehand and don't change it; manually setting up your camera is safer than using auto settings.

Manually focus at each required focus length.

Use software which can auto align the different shots. Some software will automatically merge the sharpest elements from different shots. Otherwise, arrange each shot on a different layer with a mask and edit each mask manually to give the best results.

Takes a bit of time and skill but the results can give excellent results.