RonMe Loc: San Antonio

It never ceases to amaze me how judgmental folks can be. I say keep an open mind and entertain the possibility that there may be more than one possible solution to a problem. I also like the 'kiss" principle.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

Why didn't you include the comment I was replying to? I was correcting a emphatically stated wrong piece of advice. If you focus on the front row of a group photo and have shallow DOF you will not get the entire group in focus. This is usually what happens with cameras set to auto focus.I gave the accepted rule for manually focusing on a group to assure the entire grop is in focus if the proper fstop is selected to give sufficient DOF.

RonMe Loc: San Antonio

I think most will agree that selecting the proper f-stop to maximize DOF is a good idea. Some folks, like myself, are visually impaired and manual focus is not the best option. There are instances where a simple rule of thumb can increase your odds of success.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

Depth of field as mentioned above but something I learned the hard way. when shooting kids, bump up the shutter speeds.
adults can hold still a kid cant or wont. Though it looks like they are holding still, trust me they are still moving.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Increase you f/stop to f/16, you need Depth of Field.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

This is just my opinion. The opinions of others above are all good, but I believe that you just didn't have enough light to capture the scene. I see too many shadows on the faces. If I'm right, too little light will force you camera to shoot at too low a shutter speed and allow for blur with any movement of the camera or subjects. Look at the shutter speed on the picture you have taken. Just my opinion. Leon

badlandz Loc: Tucson, AZ

I agree, GREAT photo of the family. But, a tiny bit of bokeh would have helped. The bricks would be less distracting in the background, and the fire would still "pop." So, I'd step it down to a stop or two and kept the people in focus, and a bit more background blur with a narrower depth of field. Keep the family sharp, less distraction from the background, and a bit more epic.

mrtobin Loc: North East Ohio

I don't believe people are still talking about this photo. It is simply out of focus. Nothin more, nothing less.

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Here is a tip I learned a few years ago from a very successful portrait photographer, Sandy Puc'. (Pronounced Putch.)

Your aperture needs to be equal to or greater than the number of people in the group. So with 6 people, think f/7.1 or greater.

Now this is NOT meant to be taken literally. It is a "memory-jog" to make us think about just how much DOF we need for this particular image and what aperture we need to achieve it. Focusing in the middle of the group will maximize your DOF. AF or manual focus both work.

Ensuring that you have the rows as close together as practical is important. In this example, it appears the little guy in the left front could be moved closer to dad.

All the advice about using a longer focal length is wrong. Apaflo's post is correct. For a given framing, the ONLY thing that affects DOF is aperture. If you compose/frame this family with a 50, 85, 105, or 200mm lens, the DOF will be the same if the aperture is the same. PERSPECTIVE will change as you have to move to get the same frame, but DOF is constant.

I guess this was too much information!