Focus with Groups

When shooting photos for a debate tournament, I had to shoot many groups. The prime issue I encountered dealt with focus in group photos. Shooting with my 50mm, I had a short DoF (Depth of Field) of only a few inches. That means it was easy to have this out of focus. I needed wide apertures to avoid high ISOs inside and found it very awkward to ask people to get on the same plane of view relative to the lens (in other words, equal distance from my lens) so they would be all in focus. Here are two shots showing the issue.

A Good Photoshop Job

 

Can you guess which is the original? Can you guess how this was done? Well, it was a good Photoshop job.

Credit goes to Aknacer from Flickr. He is really a pro at Photoshop and I admire his skills and abilities.

Dank Detail

Taken at f/4 on my shiny new 7D, this photo was super sharp. I have gotten really obsessed with getting my images really sharp, especially with the new auto focus system in my new Canon EOS 7D.