help with focusing...

[Rahul]

i was using a friends lens...an 85mm 1.2 l lens...which was fun to use!
however i was going through my shots and basically the wedding reception shots...i took the lens down to 1.4 aperture and so i could take a few shots using all the available light..but now when im looking a the shots the depth of field is obviously too shallow..and to be honest...the shots will look great on screen ...but not printed ...!

i was wondering when using a lens at 1.4 or 1.6 aperture ...how do you focus or where would you focus so more of the image is focused or should i have put all the af points on and not just the central one???? cos ive seen some peoples shots on here using this sort of aperture and all their shots look great!!

if anyone can help me with this i would be most grateful...also i hope i made sense!!

thanks

[TheHoff]

If the depth of field is too shallow, stop down or move back. It isn't anything to do with your technique if your chosen area is in focus. You can't fight the laws of physics -- depth of field is only going to be so great at f/1.2, 1.4, or 1.6 with an 85mm focal length. Given enough light, the need for those wide open levels is often overstated here and many portraits would do better at f/2 or smaller so that more than one eye is sharp.

[shannyD]

i love that lens.. but i like it the best at f4. the sharpness, and the focus looked fabulous on it.

shan

[sandpiper]

i was wondering when using a lens at 1.4 or 1.6 aperture ...how do you focus or where would you focus so more of the image is focused or should i have put all the af points on and not just the central one


You focus on the spot that needs to be in focus, generally the nearest eye on the portrait subject with people.

You can't make "more of the image in focus" by focusing differently, depth of field remains the same unless you stop down to a smaller aperture, or move further away.

The last thing you should do is switch to all-points active. It won't increase DoF, just make it increasingly likely that it will focus in the wrong place and with such limited DoF your subject will likely be completely out of focus.

Your best bet is to use the nearest single point to the area you are focusing on and either keep it on target or recompose as little as possible. With very shallow DoF it is easy to mis-focus with central point and recompose.

[Rahul]

thanks alot for all your responses..i think thats what ive been doing is mis-focus just slightly and then certain things i wanted in focus actually end up looking out of focus...

[tonylong]

I'm not suprised at the wedding reception results -- the 85 wide open gives just a tiny sliver of focus. Shooting at an aperture of 1.2 or 1.4 is really a specialized thing that requires a very careful approach, IMO. At an event such as a wedding reception I think I'd opt for f/5.6 or, if really necessary f/4 and up my ISO and if that didn't give a good exposure use a good flash setup.

[Rahul]

yea i use a flash setup when im using my 24 - 70mm lens ...but i wanted some really natural looking shots and the dj had amazing lighting...so i thought it would look cool to try this lens out...

but i think overall the lowest i should ever set my aperture to is f4...thanks for your help!

[S-S]

dont limit yourself to f/4... the beauty of this lens is its performance at wide apertures - but certainly if you move back you will get more in focus, and depending on the subject sometimes a narrower aperture is more desirable

but i loved that lens at f/1.2 and successfully shot a wedding with it like that (and 17-55 for wider shots)