# Any Tips on family portraits?  Getting all faces in focus on Family pictures?



## mzeutenh (Sep 30, 2011)

I'm going to be taking family portraits for a friend soon and I am in no way a professional photographer but this friend likes the work I've done and has asked me to do it, so I'm going to for free of course, but I want the photos to turn out as professional as possible. I'll be working with a Nikon D90 and a AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8. I'd accept absolutely any advice at all anyone wants to give me on shooting family portraits (outdoors) but my question for now is--What settings should I use to ensure that all of their faces come out in great focus? Should I use the "Face priority" setting in my camera or will that only focus on one face? I'm not opposed to doing things more manually, I just don't know what types of focus settings I should have in place or if there are other "tricks" so to say.


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## cgipson1 (Sep 30, 2011)

If you know how DOF works... than you can guesstimate the DOF you will need, and use this Online Depth of Field Calculator to get a rough idea what aperture you need to use. Face priority would focus on that single face and expose for it... depending on what the other "faces" are like, that may or may not be a good idea. I would try a balanced approach... where no single face may have a perfect  (for that face) exposure, but all will be exposed as well as possible.


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## GeorgieGirl (Sep 30, 2011)

The number of people and how you postion them are going to be an important factor for your effort to determine what settings to use. I would add too, what your location is going to be. For example if you are going to have a group of four people, you can decide if you want them all in a row if you will, if you want two in front and two behind...for overall sharpness of each of the faces you have to work out those details first so that you then know what you need your f/stop to be so that each of the faces remains sharp. 

Groups and Large groups create challenges. If you are able to describe what you think your set up of the family will be, and if its inside or outside and where specifically inside or outside, we can probably give a hand with expected lighting and settings for times of day.


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## Christie Photo (Sep 30, 2011)

How many persons?

I suggest working from a tripod and manually focusing the lens.  With a small group, shoot around 5.6; with a larger group shoot around f8.

In either case, zoom in all the way to 55mm.

Good luck!

-Pete


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## mzeutenh (Sep 30, 2011)

I believe I've be taking a few different shots with different groups within the group. I think the largest group shot will be 8 people, and the smallest probably 3. It will be outside at about 2:30-3pm. The family has asked me to do the pics at a spot where the dad likes to hunt? and I don't know where that is so I haven't seen it, not sure if it will be more of an open field, tall grass, or trees. I was thinking about bringing a couple chairs along because I'm not really sure how I will position them...what worries me a little is that the two parents and all their children are basically adults/teens so all around the same height except for one small child who is about 4 yrs old. Any ideas or similar example shots are appreciated...


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## ChavezPhoto (Sep 30, 2011)

That time isn't really optimal for taking photos outside - try to get them under some form of shade. If it's too bright, all of your subjects will be squinting their eyes, so keeping them out of the sun or at least positioning the sun behind them would work out best. I agree with aiming for 5.6 to 8 on the aperture. As for posing, it always look attractive to have the tallest person in the middle and have the height decrease on both sides, making a sort of pyramid. Otherwise, it'll look like just a group of people randomly put together, and not so much a professional photograph (unless you're going for natural, casual poses).


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