Illustrative Discussion - Effects of Depth of Field for Group Portraits

This is not meant to be scientific or any end all/be all to DOF with group portraits. What I wanted to do here is simply give some close idea, and illustration, as to how DOF affects group portraiture. This is intended as a learning exercise for all that are interested.

Where I am wrong, please correct me. Also, if there is more that you can present here I am inviting you to expand on this topic.

When shooting portraits that include more than one person/subject, DOF becomes even more important than with a single subject. You want all of your group in focus unless your shot is intended to be otherwise.

The DOF will affect how much in focus your group is and also how blurred the background is as well. The shots below will give you some idea of what happens as your aperture changes, as well as distance between subject and background, and what it does to the overall focus of both.

All shots were using the 50mm lens. Subjects were placed close to the background and far from the background. I used aperture of f/8 and f/4 and finally f/8 and f/11 with even greater distance between subject and background. Distance from camera to subject remained relatively the same on all shots.

Keep in mind I had to pay these models a large sum to participate and I had a hard time getting them to smile.




Subjects at equal distance from camera and close to the background - shot at f/4

All subjects in focus and background is blurred










Subjects at equal distance from camera and close to the background - shot at f/8

All subjects in focus and background is also in focus

Subjects staggered, some closer to background than others - Shot at f/4

Only one subject in focus and background is blurred





Subjects staggered again - shot at f/8

Still only one subject in sharp focus and background slightly blurred

Subjects farther from background and at same distance from camera - shot at f/4

All subject in focus and background is blurred






Subjects equal distance from camera - shot at f/8

All subjects in focus and background is slightly blurred

Subjects staggered, not equal distance from camera - shot at f/4
Subjects farther from background





Subjects staggered, not equal distance from camera - shot at f/8
Subjects farther from background
(This shot is affected by camera shake - hand held at 1/40th second)

Subjects staggered, not equal distance from camera - shot at f/8
Subjects much farther from background
Subject are still not all in focus - background blurred





Subjects staggered, not equal distance from camera - shot at f/16
Subjects much farther from background
All subjects in focus - background blurred

Missed this post. Great example shots for a person to look at.

Thank you sir! I had not seen any visual examples for newbs like me to look at. It is very important to think about your DOF/Aperture when shooting multiple subjects in one shot and I wanted to do something to make one think about shooting before just setting f/8 and snapping away.

Good one, Mike Thanks for taking the time to do this.It is very helpful.