Need help with my skills

[Turd Furguson]

I own a Canon 40d w/ 25-135mm lens. I have taken quite a bit of photos with it, but it seems like I just cannot figure out how to make the whole picture to be focused. It always seems to be just the object I am pointed at and everything else is blurry. Like my focal point is too small. What exactly do I need to be looking for to change this?

 

[Hobbes874]

Using a narrow aperture (i.e f/22) will give you a wide depth of field, but will require a slower shutter speed. More things will be in focus with a small aperture. Your lens has a minimum f-stop of f/3.5 (This is shown on the lens body itself), at this setting many things in the background and foreground of your subject might be out of focus or blurry. This effect is often called "bokeh" or just depth of field.

Searched google for a better write up:
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/fototech/htmls/depth.html

 

[Turd Furguson]

Thank you. I bookmarked that page for later reading.

So most likely I need to purchase another lens at some point.

 

[Motley]

Here's another one for ya...

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=depth_of_field

Check out the other learning topics too..

 

[Hobbes874]

So most likely I need to purchase another lens at some point.

Nope, shouldn't be anything wrong with the one you have. Set your camera in Aperture priority mode and click the dial up (Not familiar with Canons, so look up that mode in your manual. I think its the "Av" setting on the mode dial), just mess with settings and take pictures. Even after like 10 or 20 shots at different Aperture settings you should start to understand more.