parkhurst6 Loc: Spanaway, WA

I finally got my new camera!!! Yay!!! How can I avoid either my back drop or my front view being out of focus? How can I get it to where both are in focus? Its frustrating!!! I know there is a way...I love taking close shots. Im doing rather well I think. But I loose some of the beauty in my pictures when the background or foreground is blurred. I know its ok...but I dont want it in every photo I have. You will see when I start posting my floral and fauna a pictures. Im using the Canon T3 18-55mm

Malcolm B Loc: Leicester (UK)

Open the aperture on your lens to f8 or greater, (f11, f16). The smaller the f number (f1.4, 1.8, 2) the narrower will be the depth of field.

Enjoy your new camera, and read the instruction book!

billypip Loc: nottingham England

practice more with the aperture at f8 or thereabouts, you may have to increase the iso depending on how much light you have. This is just a starting point.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Are you using automatic? You will want to learn about aperture settings for depth of field (DOF). The amount of the scene that is in focus can be set by you - up to a certain point. There are restrictions based on how close you are to your subject, how far your subject is from its background, plus the length of the lens (like if you're at the 18 mm or the 55 mm end). Try Googling some depth of field articles or do search here on UHH, then check back in with us if you have specific questions. Best of luck and enjoy your camera! (I have the T3i)

btw, I think the 1st and 3rd photos you posted are very lovely with the DOF they have now.

LPigott Loc: Monterey Peninsula, CA

The T3 has a Creative Auto mode. You can set the focus there to have a sharp or blurry background.

parkhurst6 Loc: Spanaway, WA

thank you, and yes..I have been reading. When I conquer that feat I will post more pictures to see what you think! Thank you for your helpful insight!!! Thank you for the compliment as well...it helps boost the ego a tad bit! ;)

GHK Loc: The Vale of Eden

[quote=parkhurst6]How can I avoid either my back drop or my front view being out of focus? How can I get it to where both are in focus?

As people have said, smaller apertures give wider depth of field.
HOWEVER, it isn't always the best thing.
E.g. A flower or bird will stand out better from a blurred background; if it was sharp the bg would compete too much with the main subject.
GHK

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

To get everything in focus, Google "focus stacking."

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

An interesting question you pose. Most photographers try very hard to blur the foreground and background to allow the main subject to become isolated in pin sharp focus.

Thanks to lens manufacturers thinking they know much more than we do about the style of photography we want to capture, they removed the focus and Depth of Field scales from the lens body. Depending on the lens type, Prime, or Zoom, the lens used to have from 1 to several sliding scales indicating the relative DOF and Hyper Focal Range (HFR) for a given f/stop.

The Aperture setting f/1.5 to f/16 does more than limit the amount of light passing through the lens onto the photosensitive element, it also changes the general Depth of Field for the subject focused on. Knowing the DOF range for a specific f/stop, and the physical distance between the principle subject you can manually adjust the focus ring (HFR) to get exactly what you want into sharp focus and the rest depreciating into soft focus.

You can create your own set of scales on paper and carry them with you for these special creations. You can search for Hyper Focal Range (HFR) in this form, or send a PM to me for detailed instructions.

Michael G

The background is set to black, chroma removed, focus set for the last flower petal.

Wayne93 Loc: Montrose, Colorado

In floral macro photography, in which you seem interested, the popular technique is to use a large aperture (f2.8-f4.0) “less depth of field” to through the background out of focus and have your main subject in sharp focus to isolate it from the background. The smaller aperture you use (f8, f11, f16 etc.) “more depth of field” = the sharper the entire image will be as a whole. I suggest two publications that will be great for you: “DIGITAL CAMERA” & “DIGITAL PHOTO”. Both are British magazines that are published each month and come with tutorial CD’s. Both are great learning tools and have a wealth of information. Both can be found at Barnes & Noble’s or Hastings.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

I think you ment to stop down witch would make the apreture opening smaller f/11 or f/16. If you opened it up f/1.4 to f/4 you enlarge the aperture opening. I would use a small aperture opening and put my camera in aperture prioraty. Then if you need a faster shutter speed up your ISO. If you want to get everything in focus you need a view camera with a back tilt. Hope this helps - Dave

Malcolm B Loc: Leicester (UK)

Thank you wilsondl2, of course you are right. At least I got the numbers in the correct order even if I used the wrong words.

Much like many of my school reports, must try harder!

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

This is strictly a lens issue. The smaller the aperture the longer the DOF.
Here's a good article on the subject.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_Field

Brian in Whitby Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada

If you open the aperture the f/Number gets smaller. f/2 is a larger aperture than f /2.8

For greater depth of field, you want smaller aperture (larger number) f/11, f/16 or f/22 if you have enough light for such a small aperture.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Hi - - Park:

Check out Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera by Bryan Peterson
.
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Photographs/dp/0817439390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367729896&sr=8-1&keywords=Peterson+understanding