Group Shots

[tkrobinson]

I have a question regarding shooting group shots. It will range from 2 person shot to possibly 8 person shot.

What focal point do I need to be concentrating on using. Center point, All points?

I know that with a two person shot, I plan on having a tigher shot with a lower fstop so I can separate them from the background.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Trevor

[plbb]

Hi Trevor,

I need help myself and asked a similar question here with one response you may find useful:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=577147

I also got a little info from the threads in this section which might help you as well. Not a whole lot of help in this section unfortunately.

You might also search your topic throughout the whole Knowledge forum altho I didn't get much for results.

FWIW I would only use one focus point to focus with, I'd be afraid that if all the focus points were active the camera would grab the wrong spot to focus on. But remember, I'm new to this too...

Hopefully someone more experienced will come along to help you out eventually.

[tkrobinson]

plbb,

I appreciate the info. I guess I was on the right track with changing my fstop.

[Hermeto]

Use center focusing point and smaller aperture (higher f-stop).
Estimate or calculate Depth of Field (http://dofmaster.com/dofjs.html)and make sure that it covers the whole group.
If people are lined in rows at different distances from the camera, focus at the row closer to the camera.
Usually (for this type of shots) that’s how the DoF is distributed: it stretches further behind the focusing point then in front of it.

Also, when shooting groups, I like to take 2 or 3 quick shots in a row.
When there are 3 or more people in a group, one of them will be a blinker, guaranteed!

[tkrobinson]

thanks, yep, there is always a blinker.

[plbb]

Thanks Hermeto, I appreciate this information as well!