Balancing depth of field

[andre]

Thanks guys!
Plenty of food for thought.

[gzp]

You mentioned scanners, have you examined the negatives to rule out scanning issues?

[Mark Sawyer]

It's a choice. Make the right one for you.

[polyglot]

Not stopping down will result in images softer than they need to be, and by how much depending heavily on your lens choice. However, without seeing any examples from you, I would suggest you look to your lighting. You need some contrast in the face and some interest in the light otherwise anything will look flat and soft.

Keep in mind that "sharpness" is a fuzzy (sorry) term, composed of resolution, acutance and contrast, all of which combine in interesting ways. If you have no contrast in your scene (from the lighting) then the "sharp"est lens will produce a flat, soft-looking image.