Dynamics5

How to get a sharp picture of an animal AND grass surrounding it? Either one or the other is sharp even with at narrow aperture of 16 to 22.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

How many mm telephoto are you using?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You might want to provide an example. I'd argue you can't get a sharper image at any aperture smaller than f/13. But, your question is just general and doesn't include enough of the relevant details, such as what animal is involved, the distance to the subject, as well as the lens, effective focal length, and camera.

You should always focus specifically on the nearest eye of the animal. Depending on how close and how much the animal's head fills the frame, the aperture may allow for a depth of field that extends just to the ears or slightly beyond. If you're further away than portrait distance, f/8 to f/11 should extend the DOF to cover some-to-all the background, but that generalization depends on the lens focal length, your distance and the subject size.

Be sure to store the attached example for a more detailed discussion of your specific situation.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

The key is how steady are your hands and are you using an 1S0 of at least 1200 and shutter speed of 1/1000
I use a monopod

Dynamics5

Bison or bear in animal park.
Canon 6D at 100, 200, or 300 mm.
Animal at varying distances.

Bill_de Loc: US

Seems like the OP is describing a depth of field issue, if either the subject or or grass are in focus. If the issue was motion, neither would be sharp.

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R.G. Loc: Scotland

The longer the focal length, the less DOF you will have. With a telephoto lens the DOF will often be measured in inches, even with a high f-stop.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Hard to tell without image and detail.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Dynamics5

Assume two cases:

1. Animal is not moving. 200 MM focal length, bright sunny day. What shutter speed and iso to get both Animal and surroundings in sharp focus?

2. Animal breathing, twitching or head moving slowly. Same 200 MM focal length, Bright sunny day. Same question. Also, better to be in shutter priority or even manual?

User ID

Same way we get to Mars in ten minutes.

Special Case:
If conditions favor its use, a tilt adapter can get you there. This would require an SLR lens on an EVF camera. And the SLR lens must have mechanical controls for aperture and focus.

At suitable speed, no tripod needed. No need to preview the tilt effect. Just set it to max cuz it will be less than fully ideal ... an improvement but not perfection.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Let the camera decide for the specifics of the actual situation as none of us will be there with you and your camera, where the two of you can make all the decisions.

If the lens is IS-enabled, plan to let that stabilization assist in how slow of a shutter you can use. For your static animal situation, shoot in aperture priority and AUTO ISO. Dial your aperture to f/8 and see what shutter and ISO the camera selects. On a sunny day, expect the camera to select ISO-100 or a similar low ISO. Just monitor the shutter speed the camera selects. Your IS lens will keep everything sharp down to at least 1/100 sec. If the camera is selecting faster than 1/500 sec, you have room to go up to f/11 on your aperture. Your selection of focus method and focus points will impact a 'sharp image' more than the shutter speed.

For your example of a slightly moving animal, 1/500 sec allows for freezing minor movements. See the comment above of selecting the aperture and checking how the camera responds for the given light. If the light is bright enough, just work in aperture priority and concentrate on placing a single AF point or zone of AF points on the animal's eye / face. If you need to force a faster shutter speed, just take the ISO off AUTO and move it up for your selected aperture until the camera responds with a shutter speed around 1/400 sec while you focus on an animal.

Dynamics5

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Attached is a picture that illustrates the problem. Note that the grass in between the two bears is out of focus. (The marks on the bear are because I took a picture of the picture that is on a computer screen.)

Dynamics5

Picture was taken at 1/409 sec at F/4.5 iso 100. 105 mm.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

In this same situation, you'll never get both bears in sharply-defined focus, that is foreground through background details. The f/11 to f/13 suggestion earlier will help, but the depth of field won't cover both animals at this focal length with you so near to one and the distance between the two animals.

Consider exporting this image and attaching (and storing) the JPEG file rather than using a picture of the computer monitor.

For focus, it's important to use selective focus points, placing 1 over the nearest eye of this nearest bear. That's where the viewer's eye will go first. Get that point in sharp focus, then with enough depth of field to cover the animal's head, and the rest of the image in-focus (or a soft fall-off to out of focus) is all gravy based on the aperture you decide to use. This f/4.5 image seems fine. You just wanted to have a bit more room so you didn't cut-off the bear's paw at the bottom, but that's just nit-picking.