What focal length and aperture work best for a 4–5 person family portrait on a sofa?
Asked 7/5/2013
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I’m photographing small family groups (about 4–5 people) in a studio setup with a vintage sofa and a 10x10 backdrop. I currently use a 50mm f/1.8 and want a vintage-style portrait similar to the example image, with everyone on the sofa fitting comfortably in the frame and staying sharp. What lens or focal length should I use, and should I be shooting wide open or stopping down?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Try moving back to fit the composition you want, use a tripod, and stop that 50 down. The blur and general lack of sharpness may be due to shooting wide open at f/1.8. If your composition calls for bokeh of the type that f/1.8 provides, consider calculating a precise dof and positioning your subjects very carefully, keeping in mind that your range of acceptable sharpness will change with the distance to your focal point, at any aperture.
eg. With an aps-c sensor, 50mm at f/1.8, a focus point 7 feet away will yield about 5 inches of acceptable sharpness. Try to keep your subjects' eyes in that zone of sharpness while respecting your composition. Stopping down a touch will help, if you don't need the wide open bokeh.
edit: check that you're not missing focus, too. tripod helps for manual focus, especially because you are in complete control of your environment.
Originally by user17201. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user17201
13y ago
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A 50mm can work well for this, especially if you have enough room to step back. For a group portrait on a sofa, aperture is usually the bigger issue than focal length: shooting at f/1.8 often gives too little depth of field for multiple faces to stay sharp. Stopping down to around f/8 (or even smaller if needed) is a safer choice for 4–5 people.
If you must shoot in a tighter space, a 35mm may help you fit everything in, but be careful with distortion near the frame edges. An 85mm is likely too long unless you have a lot of room.
A tripod can help with careful composition and focusing. Also make sure focus is accurate—at close distances and f/1.8, depth of field can be only a few inches, so even slight focus errors can make some faces soft.
In short: start with your 50mm, move back as needed, and stop down rather than shooting wide open.
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