Taking Scenery with people on foreground.

[skyymanz]

Hi all,

Would like to know what kind of setting do you use when taking people with scenery?

If f stop is small and focus point is on the person, the background will be blur out. Do i increase the f stop? Or try to move the focus point to the background?

Thank you.

 

[Rashkae]

Hi all,

Would like to know what kind of setting do you use when taking people with scenery?

If f stop is small and focus point is on the person, the background will be blur out. Do i increase the f stop? Or try to move the focus point to the background?

Thank you.

You use a small aperture, like f/11 or f/16. Do you understand what a "small f-stop" actually is?

 

[Shizuma]

if you like the background and can pose the subjects well to make use, choose a narrow aperture for huge depth of field.

if you don't like the background, shoot wide open or nearly wide open for thin depth of field.

if you don't like your subjects , shoot wide open and focus on the nearest tree .

 

[pinholecam]

Roughly speaking.

1. Smaller f-stop for more DOF. (Eg. F11, f16)
2. Learn abt hyperfocal distance (roughly its to focus 1/3 into the scene)
3. Do a focus bracket and then merge in PP

 

[kei1309]

Roughly speaking.

1. Smaller f-stop for more DOF. (Eg. F11, f16)
2. Learn abt hyperfocal distance (roughly its to focus 1/3 into the scene)
3. Do a focus bracket and then merge in PP

1. you mean smaller aperture. you made the same mistake TS made.

a smaller f-stop could mean smaller f-stop number, which actually means a shallow depth of field. and this actually confuses newbies because "small f-stop equals shallow DOF, while large f-stop equals greater DOF". which also, by the way, small f-stop equals large aperture and large f-stop equals small aperture.

if you want to clearly reference aperture size in relation to f-stop, you should say "aperture size" or "aperture" rather than make a vague reference to "f-stop".

 

[catchlights]

Hi all,

Would like to know what kind of setting do you use when taking people with scenery?

If f stop is small and focus point is on the person, the background will be blur out. Do i increase the f stop? Or try to move the focus point to the background?

Thank you.

the most simplest way to get both in sharp focus is to put the people far far away and shoot them from head to toe, but what is the subject? the people or the scenery?

depth of field can only cover so much, if you want to put people in the foreground of the scenery, and it is not possible to shoot at f16 or f22 all the time, as you may get too slow shutter speed or have to use very high ISO.



so follow Shizuma's advice is the best.

 

[snowver]

You can find depth of field calcultor online very easily. It is affected by the focal length u using, the distance from ur subject and ur f stop. So just thinking of f stop is like only changing aperture to change ur exposure(self-limiting)

 

[daredevil123]

TS, this might be of interest to you.
Hyperfocal Distance Focusing.

 

[skyymanz]

Hi all,

Thank you for all the advise. Learnt something about the hyperfocal.

For taking just scenery, like big national park, we have to use smaller aperture rite? for bigger dof.

 

[Rashkae]

Hi all,

Thank you for all the advise. Learnt something about the hyperfocal.

For taking just scenery, like big national park, we have to use smaller aperture rite? for bigger dof.

Yup, so f11-f16 is good. Smaller than that and you suffer from diffraction.

 

[skyymanz]

Thank you for the reply.

How about night scenery? Aperture have to be open wide to get all the light but will have shallow dof?

 

[photoart]

Thank you for the reply.

How about night scenery? Aperture have to be open wide to get all the light but will have shallow dof?

if you don't want a shallow DOF, you can still shoot with f8-f11, but you need a slower shutter speed. To prevent camera shake or movement blur, use a tripod and a flash to "freeze" the person in the foreground

 

[catchlights]

if you don't want a shallow DOF, you can still shoot with f8-f11, but you need a slower shutter speed. To prevent camera shake or movement blur, use a tripod and a flash to "freeze" the person in the foreground

no, since photographer also want to expose for the background ambient too, so the person still need to keep still thru out the exposure time till the shutter closed, else he/she will turn into "ghost".

 

[photoart]

no, since photographer also want to expose for the background ambient too, so the person still need to keep still thru out the exposure time till the shutter closed, else he/she will turn into "ghost".

yes, the person will have to keep as still as possible during the entire exposure. Along with the right combination of shutter speed/aperture/ISO, together with slow sync flash and tripod, the photographer should get a acceptable exposure.

actually it also depends on the quality of the ambient light; is it adequately bright or really really dim

 

[photoart]

yes, the person will have to keep as still as possible during the entire exposure. Along with the right combination of shutter speed/aperture/ISO, together with slow sync flash and tripod, the photographer should get a acceptable exposure.

actually it also depends on the quality of the ambient light; is it adequately bright or really really dim

Oh yes, this method is for posed photos. It will not work for street scenes where people are moving all the time.

 

[kei1309]

Oh yes, this method is for posed photos. It will not work for street scenes where people are moving all the time.

in the first place... i don't think you want to irritate the people on the street by using your flash on them

there was once i forgot to close the flash, and i startled a mother-son pair who were sleeping on the floor in the middle of a public area

 

[rhino123]

Aiyah... no need to confuse TS that much. Use flash to shoot, so you can shoot at higher shutter speed to prevent hand shaking and/or motion blur. Then ask the person to move away, while you shoot another time using very small aperture (f8-f16, depending on your distance from your background), then go home and merge that two photos together using photoshop. There, you have a properly exposed person and a properly exposed background.

Normally in this type of shot, a tripod will be needed though.

 

[Shizuma]

no, since photographer also want to expose for the background ambient too, so the person still need to keep still thru out the exposure time till the shutter closed, else he/she will turn into "ghost".

Yeah I have a deliberate ghost self-portrait. http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1256790&highlight=Shizuma+self+portrait

 

[catchlights]

Aiyah... no need to confuse TS that much. Use flash to shoot, so you can shoot at higher shutter speed to prevent hand shaking and/or motion blur. Then ask the person to move away, while you shoot another time using very small aperture (f8-f16, depending on your distance from your background), then go home and merge that two photos together using photoshop. There, you have a properly exposed person and a properly exposed background.

Normally in this type of shot, a tripod will be needed though.

merge in photoshop?

sound very simply, but need some skills and knowledge in photoshop than able to do a believable task, or else can call for PS request

 

[snowver]

For posed, Small aperature, pump up iso till exposure for background is about 1/2 second(depend on if ur camera can handle high iso), put camera on tripod and use flash to freeze the subject and get correct exposure. Rmb to use gell to get the same temperature as ur back ground or else white balance will be off.