Where to focus landscape shots?

[timc]

If I'm taking a picture of a landscape that has points of interest in the background and foreground (examp: a mountain in the background and a stream in the foreground) how would I focus for that? Just open the lens to F8 and make other adjustments?

[PhotosGuy]

a mountain in the background and a stream in the foreground)
Depth of field and aperture selection question. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2407876)

Depth-of-field (http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm)

Another DOF calculator at…
http://www.rbarkerphoto.com/DOF2.html

Play with this a while & you'll "get it". ;)
Virtual Camera
http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/

[E-K]

It sounds like you are wanting to maximise the depth of field (i.e. the amount of things that are acceptably sharp). Sensor or film size is relevant as well to your selection of aperture. So yes, f/8 or f/11 should be fine with a cropped APS-C sensor (like in a Canon dSLR) depending on how far the river is from where you are taking the picture and the focal length being used.

You will likely want to use a tripod as well ;)

If you focus at the hyperfocal distance then anything from half of that distance to infinity should be acceptably sharp. This maximises your DOF assuming everything you want in focus is more than half the hyperfocal distance away from you (see http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html for example).

e-k

[PhotosGuy]

If you focus at the hyperfocal distance then anything from half of that distance to infinity should be acceptably sharp. I think 1/2-1/2 is for close-ups. For landscape, it's 1/3-2/3.

[E-K]

I think 1/2-1/2 is for close-ups. For landscape, it's 1/3-2/3.

If you are focusing at the hyperfocal distance then by definition it's 1/2 - infinity. The 1/3 - 2/3 is a general guideline when you don't have an infinite DOF.

There is an explanation here (http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html).

e-k