When to use certain Focus points and modes

tina875

Could you give me some tips on focusing on subjects when photographing subjects? I did a maternity shoot this last weekend and when I tried to focus in on certain areas, the camera would make a sort of clicking noise and wouldn't let me take the photo. Is this something automatic that the T2i has in place when there isn't enough light, etc?

Also, if I am taking a group photo (let's say 8 people side-to-side), what setting would I use to focus if I want all of them in focus? It seems as though the people on the ends always end up blurry. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

PBked

Hi @tina875 - One useful mode on the T2i is A-Dep which tries to keep everything from near to far in focus. Were you using a smaller aperture, say f/5.6 or f/8, to give you enough depth of field? What lens were you using? Some lenses can tend to get a little soft towards the edges which gives a blurry effect.

In the case of your maternity shoot, it sounds as if you didn't have enough light but the T2i has a little green light to the right in the viewfinder which should have been flashing if a correct exposure could not be achieved. Do you use auto ISO as this can mean a difference between getting an accurate exposure or not?

Hope this sheds some light (excuse the pun). Regards - PBked

Moose

Howdy @tina875 - I have the same questions and thoughts as @PBked. If you can give us an idea of the lens and mode you were using, it would give us a better idea as to the issues you're running into. If you're unsure about the exact settings, just playback the images on your T2i and press the DISP button a couple times to show detailed image info. This will tell you which shooting modes and settings you had in place. :)