out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

I always have wanted to get that really great Depth of Field look in my photos. How is this accomplished? I have posted some images for viewing..

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Depth of field is a function of your aperture; however, you can end up past the "best" setting for your lens. See:
https://fstoppers.com/studio/fstoppers-original-what-lens-diffraction-and-when-does-diffraction-happen-6022

In addition to aperture size, you have to be aware of blur caused by subject or your own motion when using slower shutter speeds, such as what appears to have happened with #3.

There is much more to learn and understand! Beginner books or online classes will give you structure.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

F16 focus at approx 1/3 into the image and the rest should be sharp. Wide angle lenses give you the best results to achieve your goal.

BebuLamar

The first photo has good depth of field and you really can't get more than that. I don't think even focus stacking would work in this case.
The second photo has reasonable depth of field but not great. I don't think you can get more unless you are willing to take the noise and increase your ISO way above the 400. The shutter speed of 1/80 is about the lowest for good handheld with a 50mm on an APS-C camera.
The third photo there is something wrong. I think the camera moved and you used very slow shutter speed of 1.3". The f/32 that you used should get almost everything in focus.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Play around with focus stacking.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Your 1st and 3rd images were shot using f/32. That will introduce diffraction which will be more apparent with a crop sensor. I would suggest no smaller than f/16 and for most images f/11.
The image of the graduate is 'fairly sharp' with a bit of movement a possibility. My tired old eyes can't tell for sure, I'll leave that to someone with better vision

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Read up on hyper focal distance until you understand it completely.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Well first I would ask you "what exactly is great depth of field (DOF)?" Is it the same for every shot? Is great DOF for a landscape the same thing as great DOF for a portrait?

Distance to the subject, and aperture both affect the depth of field. Normally to change the depth of field, one uses the lens aperture. The smaller the opening, the greater the DOF.

But distance from the subject also has an effect. For the same F-stop setting, subjects closer to the lens will have a shallower DOF compared to objects farther away.

To "See" the DOF you are gong to get, on a dSLR, you must use the DOF preview button. Why? The camera defaults to the lens aperture being wide open for maximum viewing light. The aperture stops down a fraction of a second before the shutter opens, then it opens up again. But you can't see what the DOF is by looking thru the lens when it is wide open. Pressing the DOF Preview button, will close the aperture to it's set value. So if you have f8 set, on you 50mm f2.8 lens, then when you press the DOF button the lens aperture will close down to f8. You can look into the lens and see the aperture close. Try it.

Here is a good exercise to help understand how to control DOF. Go outside in bright light, with your favorite lens. Set the aperture to f11 and focus on a near object. Press the DOF button while looking at the object, note the difference. Focus on a distant object and try again. Now change the aperture to f2.8 and repeat. Try again using f16, then f5.6.

Hope that helps.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Perhaps you need to define what you mean by " really great Depth of Field look". It could be deep, or it could be very shallow depending upon the effect that you wish to create. Learning how to control DOF is perhaps the most important thing.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

A question for the OP, What post processing have you done? I worked with the 1st image a bit and there is a fairly sharp image hiding in there.
The 3rd image has too much movement (almost a double exposure) to be able to do anything meaningful with.it.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

That is what I said too. Hopefully he will listen.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Yes you did, before I posted my response.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Good point(s).

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I fear our advice to OP is getting lost in the fray. :( Perhaps he is not ready for it yet.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Don't think there's much wrong with no.2 (apart from not being level). I would even widen the aperture for this. The graduate is nice and sharp and other parts of the image less so, just what you want to place the emphasis on the subject.
For no.1 I'd consider using spot focus and ensure you are aimed at what you want to be the main focal point in your image. It looks to me as though the camera has focused on the overhanging tree in the foreground and the picture has been saved by the small aperture.
For no.3 I don't know what to suggest, it doesn't look to me as though there is a single point in focus. It does look like an effect I sometimes get on my G16 if I've inadvertently left the close focus option on.