Entire frame in focus

[arnica]

Hi All,

I've been wanting to ask this question for ages, but haven't gotten around to it until now. I mainly take landscape photos some which include people in it every now and then.

However when I take the picture, I can never seem to get the entire frame in focus (with detail). I have a basic understanding of depth of field and you can control this by adjusting the aperture (f/value), and focusing to infinity (sideways 8).

When ever I take pictures, it seems that the majority of the frame in in focus (around 90%) and the remaining (usually around the edges) seems to be out of focus (not in detail). Also, what metering mode should I use (or is that for auto focus only)?

I'll post up a few pictures later tonight and show you what I've done in the past. Could you show me of point me in the right direction on how I can have the entire frame in focus?

[junqbox]

What will help first off here is usung the shorter of your focal lengths, eg- 24mm not 75mm. Also, using a smaller aperture, eg- f11 not f1.8 (which will require a longer shutter speed).
It may be worthwhile taking your lens(es) out somewhere and running a few permutations so you get a handle on the different outcomes from different settings.
There's more, but this will get you towards a solution once you experiment with your gear.

[arnica]

What will help first off here is usung the shorter of your focal lengths, eg- 24mm not 75mm. Also, using a smaller aperture, eg- f11 not f1.8 (which will require a longer shutter speed).
It may be worthwhile taking your lens(es) out somewhere and running a few permutations so you get a handle on the different outcomes from different settings.
There's more, but this will get you towards a solution once you experiment with your gear.

Thanks for your reply jungbox, I'll give that a try.

[Tom J McDonald]

You may have a dog of a lens if it's always soft around the edges.

[arnica]

You may have a dog of a lens if it's always soft around the edges.

I could have, but I reckon it's more the setting(s) that I shoot at.

[Tom J McDonald]

Ok... Stop down as much as practicable. I aim for f/11 as being the safest aperture for full frame for me.

What lens are you using?

[arnica]

Ok... Stop down as much as practicable. I aim for f/11 as being the safest aperture for full frame for me.

What lens are you using?

I mainly use the 24-70mm

[Tom J McDonald]

Ok. Small apertures are the way to go.

[arnica]

Ok. Small apertures are the way to go.

Thanks for your help Tom. I'll post up some of my experiments.

[photomike666]

There's also a trick called the hyper focal point. At any aperture the depth of field is two thirds in front & one third behind the focal point.

If u use a tripod and stop down around f16 (really slow shutter speed, hence the tripod) and focus two thirds through the landscape everything comes into focus.

[photomike666]

Also using this method, if u cannot get everything into focus, you can move the focal point to choose which part of the image is not sharp. Having a depth of field preview is handy here

[ameerat42]

And now we've all finished guessing why, post a picture to illustrate what you originally meant.

[Dwarak]

Depth of field is a tricky one I suffered the same problem when I started off taking landscape pictures as mentioned above f11 will give you good depth of field on a full frame having said that cameras with small sensor sizes will give you better depth of field with larger apertures like f9 I know for a fact as I have both full frame and a crop sensor camera. But it is just not enough if you set a small aperture value when you auto focus you need to focus one third into the scene this is close to the hyperfocal point as mentioned above. Another point to remember is how close the foreground subject is for example I use a 17-40 lens on a full frame to take a landscape shot at 17mm so my foreground subject should not be closer than 1.42 meters for a aperture value of f11. You can refer to the hyperfocal chart online.

[ricktas]

also do not focus at the hills way off in the distance, or the log in the foreground. Focus around 2/3 of the way into your scene. There is a thing called the hyperfocal distance.

[William]

Yep on a crop sensor (30D) , Using my Sigma 10-20, f8-f10 and focus 1/2 thirds into the scene (In this shot I focused halfway up the track) will give sharp definition from front to back , EG this one I posted today

f8 @12mm

[arnica]

There's also a trick called the hyper focal point. At any aperture the depth of field is two thirds in front & one third behind the focal point.

If u use a tripod and stop down around f16 (really slow shutter speed, hence the tripod) and focus two thirds through the landscape everything comes into focus.

When u say focus 2/3 into the frame, is it from the top of the bottom?

Still at work ... long day today.

[ricktas]

When u say focus 2/3 into the frame, is it from the top of the bottom?

Still at work ... long day today.

2/3rd of the way INTO the scene. So say you have person in foreground, river behind them, plains behind that, and distant hills, Use a small aperture and focus on the plain or the opposite river bank. The idea is that for a certain distance closer to, and further away from the focal point will be in focus. If you focus on the hills, then anything really close will be out of focus. If you focus on the person, the distant hills will be out of focus. So focus somewhere in between.

[William]

Thanks Rick , I could'nt explain it properly , Hence the halfway up the track

[ameerat42]

The "into" part usually means "from the observer/photographer".

[William]

I may have to add , That a wide angle lens like the 10-20 Sigma or 10-22 Canon have an inherent built in big DOF by design , You basically cant go wrong to get the whole image in focus , But the same focus rules will apply to any lens