Depth of field in scenic family portrait?

EllenC

Hi,

I used to know a lot about my old film DSLR, and now I feel it's all disappeared! Anyone have good pointers on handling depth of field? There are so many options with the camera that my head starts to spin and I don't get anywhere.

We are doing a road trip at the end of July and will be passing through Yosemite, one of my favorite places. I hope to have someone take a family shot of us sitting along the stone fencing at Tunnel View with the lovely view of the valley below into the distance. I want us in focus and I want the waterfalls and Half Dome in focus in the few behind us. Should I just set it on automatic and hope it all works out (especially since we will probably be handing the camera to someone who may not know)?

I get frustrated that automatic doesn't let you pick a focusing point (or am I wrong?). I've been using P, but then the depth of field is usually very small. It could be that we have had very grey days and a wet spring. I guess I need to study how to play with shutter speed and f/stop again and how to change it with this camera.

Thanks in advance,
Ellen

Auston

@EllenC - What you want to look for is a larger f/stop. If you set your camera to AV mode and then set it to, say f/11 that should get your family and the background in good focus. This number is really just a starting point. You may have to play around just a bit. And on the other part of your post, just spend a few minutes reading through the site. It will give you a lot of pointers that will get your brain moving in the right direction. Have a fun and safe journey.

Auston

PBked

Hi EllenC,
I second what Auston has advised, but just to jog your memory back to your DSLR film days, I'm adding my two cents worth.
A small aperture F11,16 etc will give you greater depth of field, but smaller apertures need slower shutter times to allow enough light in. If using AV mode as Auston suggests, your shutter speed needs to equal or exceed the focal length of your lens to help prevent blur from camera shake (ie. lens = 100mm - shutter speed 1/100 or higher). Of course if you have a lens with IS (image stabilization) then you can shoot slower than this.
Increasing your ISO will give you faster shutter times (to avoid problems such as camera shake), but leads to increased noise above certain levels. The 60D allows you to set ISO to auto and also limit the range eg Auto 800 or Auto1600 both of which are quite useable.
So to sum it up, set your camera to AV mode and choose apertures F11, F16 or smaller. Set Auto800 or 1600 for your ISO and check the shutter speeds the camera chooses.
If you are lucky enough to have a bright sunny day, use the 'Sunny 16' rule (ie. AV= F16, ISO 100, Shutter = 1/125). This will give you a perfectly exposed picture with great depth of field. Works every time on a bright sunny day.
For the second point you raised, yes you can choose the focus points even if set to full auto.
Best regards,
PBked

EllenC

Thanks so much. I have a lot to learn, relearn and practice. ;-)