Group shots...

[supervike]

I have a real love/hate relationship with my photography skill. I love to hate it....but I digress.

What settings am I screwing up that makes my 'group' shots only have a few parts in focus.

Fer instance:

Some are in focus, others are only in focus if you cross your eyes and pretend.

I want my group shot to come out so you can actually see the minis.

All I want is for my photos to at least represent what the minis actually look like....

 

[tidoco2222]

Hmm not sure there Jim I think it has something to do with the digi cam's inability to focus on multiple objects up close, I am sure it was TAB studio that told me once that holding a pencil at the side of the shot but out of shot (if you see what I mean) helps. Never had alot of success with multiple mini shots to be honest.

 

[supervike]

Thanks Tim! I'm looking for anything that may help.....

 

[exilesjjb]

Only thing I have tried is to not use macro and take the picture from further away on highest res then crop the picture to just your group. I think that gives you a bigger field of focus

 

[Dragonsreach]

Jim;
There is no easy answer to this as there is only one true point of focus for the camera.
IF you don't have a mini in that particular plane then the focus is going to be off.
Add to that the Depth of Field of Apparent Focus changes dramatically via the apperture size (f22 smallest) and then reduces again due to the proximity of the lens to object you have a difficult area in which to try to get a whole group "clearly defined".
The general rule of thumb is that; the Depth of Field extends 1/3 in front of the plane of focus and 2/3 behind. (but remember this field is not a sharp crisp edging but 'fades into and then out' of focus as it approaches the focal point and then passes it).
Like this:- ...|...... where | is the plane of focus.

if you can place a mini in the point where the camera can focus most easily then arrange others along that plane you'll get the best effect. Also try to keep the camera focal plane (the back) parrallel to the vertical plane of the mini as that way you'll get the best utilisation of the depth of field.
If it's a lot of minis I'd suggest stepping the minis at the rear up slightly, bit like a football team photo.

 

[supervike]

Jim;
There is no easy answer to this as there is only one true point of focus for the camera.
IF you don't have a mini in that particular plane then the focus is going to be off.
Add to that the Depth of Field of Apparent Focus changes dramatically via the apperture size (f22 smallest) and then reduces again due to the proximity of the lens to object you have a difficult area in which to try to get a whole group "clearly defined".
The general rule of thumb is that; the Depth of Field extends 1/3 in front of the plane of focus and 2/3 behind. (but remember this field is not a sharp crisp edging but 'fades into and then out' of focus as it approaches the focal point and then passes it).
Like this:- ...|...... where | is the plane of focus.

if you can place a mini in the point where the camera can focus most easily then arrange others along that plane you'll get the best effect. Also try to keep the camera focal plane (the back) parrallel to the vertical plane of the mini as that way you'll get the best utilisation of the depth of field.
If it's a lot of minis I'd suggest stepping the minis at the rear up slightly, bit like a football team photo.

I'm afraid you lost me at

"Jim;"

lol

Appreciate it, I will certainly try applying these thoughts. Cheers!!

 

[SaintHax]

While I agree with Dragonsreach's science, the answer is to have more light while shooting. More light means, tighter aperture, which means more depth of focus. The other issue can be back focusing, if the camera is focusing on hte background-- obviously bad.

 

[Legacy Account]

More light is neither here nor there if you're using a tripod. Stop down and use a slower shutter speed - it doesn't matter as far as exposure is concerned.

Mike hit the nail on the head. The closer you are to your subject, the narrower the plane of focus at any given aperture. The answer is to stop down and move backwards. Or not cluster figs as deep

 

[SaintHax]

More light is neither here nor there if you're using a tripod. Stop down and use a slower shutter speed - it doesn't matter as far as exposure is concerned.

"Here nor there"? I'm guessing I offended you, b/c you just gave another way to get the same result-- tighter aperture. It's true though, if you are using a tripod (and should be) and know how to adjust the aperture then you can just use a longer shutter speed. I didn't want to assume either of those things, but getting more light seems easy enough.

To each their own: there's more than one way to skin a cat, and you need either more DoF, or to correct back focusing (or combination of the two).

 

[Legacy Account]

More light is often absolutely the wrong thing to chuck at figures. We're trying to get flat, diffused lighting. Reflections and shine are absolutely the last thing required. More often than not people here need LESS light or less harsh light. Or a similar amount of light more evenly distributed...

 

[SaintHax]

Bad light will produce bad images-- follows the garbage in, garbage out rule. A few posts down you did describe how to diffuse light. Just as longer shutter speeds can suffer from camera shake-- I believe it was the same post where you address ways around this. Any change of process can introduce new annoyances: those can be addressed as discovered by the OP.