A little photography help...
 

I am starting to try to teach myself photography, and I have a pretty decent camera and a collection of lenses, it's a Sony a77ii.

One thing I am struggling with is the f settings, I generally find that most of the pictures I want to take end up with too much depth of field, so only a narrow focal point is in focus while the foreground and background are blurred. like if one person is standing behind another person I can only bring one of them into focus at a time.

I understand that by adjusting the f-stop(?) I can increase the focal range but when indoors this dramatically reduces the light (exposure?) and sometimes I can crank the iso up to make it acceptable but even so I still can't seem to figure that part out - even at the highest settings I often find the focal range is too narrow for what I want.

When I use a cheap camera like the one on my phone or a webcam I don't get that issue at all, so it doesn't seem like I need more expensive gear, maybe the direct opposite - but there must be something I am missing.

Any ideas?

Heck if I know. I'm sure somebody will be able to help you out though.

I always thought the f-stop was all about shutter speed / light aperture.
I would use a long f-stop in low light.

So I think it's the focus of the lens that you might need to change.
Or most likely, you need a different lens.

I'm also thinking that the better the lighting you use and or flash then the more meaningless f-stop becomes.

Using good lamps and a flash should mean minimal f-stop adjustments.

At least that's the way I understood it.

Get a "magic lantern" book for your camera.

Best camera accessory investment you can make.

small chips like phones, webcams and cheap cameras are use a wide lens. this is what is pulling the shots into focus. what lens do you use on your sony?

I have:
30mm f2.8
35mm f1.8
16-50 f2.8 (kit lens)
55-300 f4.5-5.6

I just discovered that "wide angle" applies to depth as much as width, so that may help, also that the preview in the viewfinder is a digital estimation and not necessarily exact in all respects so maybe I am just becoming discouraged with the preview and should take the shot anyway and compare later.

Always take the shot and look at it is

Switch to aperture priority.

Then watch this:

For a longer version watch this:


If you don't understand after this it's because you looked too much at Tina.

Pick up ansel adams book "The Camera" if you can read and understand it it will teach you all you need to know

in general iso and shutter speed are for exposure though aperture also has an effect but aperture is the only one of the three that effects depth of field

the other things effecting depth of field is the size of you sensor, the focal length of your lens and the distance to/from your subject.

Now imagine what it was like to shoot on film, where you took your picture then three days and 20 bucks later you got them back and could tell if they were what you wanted...

you need more light... :2 cents:

are you shooting stuff in ambient light? what/where are you shooting anyway?

Here's my two cents. Been shooting photos for over 15 years. First thing is to know whether you have enough light to focus correctly at a shoot. If you're indoors sometimes the camera cannot focus correctly because of the light level in the room is too dark. Second is if you're using a lens that has a zoom on it. Light levels can drastically change. And cause this problem. You don't have the problem with your phone because it's a fixed lens. Which maybe that is what you need a lens that does not zoom that has a fixed length. But let me boil this down to an easier way. No professional photographer really goes running around trying to figure out how much beer is in the photos. We just get one good lens that we like and we just keep using the hell out of it. Because you can't go back and redo a photo after the model has left the studio. Experiment with some lenses. And when you find the one that works for you. Then that's it that's the one lens for that type and style a photo. But I have had problems with Canon cameras. And other high end camera not focusing the way I want them to. In fact I actually enjoyed my Sony 6000. What a great night fast focusing and sharp images that camera gives me. Hope this helps.

Hi John,

The wider your aperture is, blurrier your background will be, and the less light you will need.

Try this : Your camera should support a semi-automatic mode that lets you manually adjust the aperture but then automatically adjusts everything else to compensate. Try experimenting with this mode first and it might give you some insight.

For full frame you want to crank up the ISO to 1600-3200 range so you can shoot with a higher FSTOP number like f8-f13 be careful going above that you can lose image quality just check your images on your computer to make sure that noise isn't an issue. With that camera you should be pretty much noiseless up to ISO 3200.

If you can't get the right exposure in those ranges add more light until you are properly exposed.

Another method is using the camera's setting to set it to APS-C and this will the crop the size of the sensor being used giving you more depth of field but also will add a crop factor to your lens and make it a longer focal length adding a 1.5 crop factor. This would make a 17mm-35mm zoom lens on a APS sensor a 25mm-52.5mm

Sounds very helpful:thumbsup

Beat me to it.

Would add, if you have a solid surface and the models aren't moving, you can slow down the speed of the shutter. I have done this and found it works.

It's a job of test, record and see what works best.

Try using a dedicated flash gun too.

If you use a dedicated flash gun you have much more light.

Studio lights are best.

But as Paul Markham has stated, try not hand holding the camera. A good quality camera stand can help.

WTF? :eyecrazy

Strobes are dead. Use natural or constant lights unless you want your shit to look like 2004. All the glamour photographers in this biz are dying as the 50 + aged customers are literally dying. The new generation doesn't want Playboy or Twisty's style that shit is for old folks. Learning to shoot with natural light isn't hard the best lighting is free just make sure you get a good location with lots of light. I use natural light as mostly soft fill light then use daylight constant lights to get the skin properly exposed in the most flattering way. You can bang out some sets very quickly with strobes but your shit will look dated.

Thanks everyone for you help, it looks like I have a decent amount of homework.

I have some great constant lights for sale if you are interested. I just changed out the ballasts to brand new ones and got new 5500K Kino Flo Daylight bulbs in them.

Lowel Caselite4 with new kino flo daylight bulbs

PRICE IS FIRM DUE TO THE OVERHAUL I DID ON THEM.

http://images.craigslist.org/00000_5...TC_600x450.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/00000_3...6z_600x450.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/00r0r_f...sb_600x450.jpg

Some solid advice in this thread