Focus problem - Glamour 1™ Putting the Glamour Back in Photography!

Darrin · 09-25-2005, 08:12 PM

Here is my question. I just recently did a photo shoot with about sixteen girls. The girls were spread out around a car (some girls were leaning against the car while some were maybe 2 feet away. As I looked at the images after downloading them I saw that some of the girls on the side were not as sharp as the ones in the middle of the picture. I was shooting with a Canon 20D and using a wide angle lense. This is the first time I used this many girls and I can fix the pictures in PS, but I like to do as little in PS as possible. I hope I gave everyone enough info. Any kind of help is greatly appreciated.

**StuHaluski** · 09-25-2005, 08:23 PM

what was the fstop you used and how much did the lens cost?

I think your fstop was too open.

**Al_Nowak** · 09-25-2005, 08:37 PM

Well, get the girls all back together around the car, and...

Sorry, I don't know how much selective focus fixing you can do in PS and not have it apparent. And not having seen the image, I don't know how much is required.

Sharpening selective areas may make it seem like it's in focus... but we all know better. There's some software called FocusFixer that supposedly has better algorithms than PS, but I don't think it's cheap.They have a trial version but it may not be fully functional, i.e., you may not be able to save your fixes. Take a look at

Fixer Labs web page

In any event, there's a learning experience here. Let us know how it turns out. And good luck!

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Sean_Armenta · 09-25-2005, 08:50 PM

from the sounds of it, looks like we're talking about spilled milk here. are you asking what you could have done to get all the girls in focus, or are you asking what to do in PS to remedy this?

your depth of field (what's in focus) is dictated by your aperture and your distance from the subject (what you actually focused on). rule of thumb to maximize your depth of field is to use a smaller aperture (f/11, f/16) and to place your point of focus 1/3 into the scene.

it's hard to say without seeing the image and without knowing which lens you were using, but it sounds like you either 1) were shooting wide open fairly close to the subject(s) or 2) were shooting wide open and focused on the subject closest to you. a wide angle lens has a significant amount of depth of field, meaning even if you shoot at f8, you're likely to get everything in focus.

as far as fixing it in PS... i personally wouldn't. out of focus is out of focus, period.

Darrin · 09-25-2005, 08:55 PM

the lense is a canon 17-35 ef 2.8. As for the cost it was around $900.00. I doubt it was the lenses fault. I believe the specs were f/13 maybe f/16.

**StuHaluski** · 09-25-2005, 09:09 PM

I bet you focused on the girls 2 feet away and your dof didnt cover the girls on the other side of the car.

However, no more comments from me until I see a pic, which on second thought should have been posted with the question.