Troubling focussing...

[PatrickO]

I've just reviewed the images from a location portrait shoot I did yesterday afternoon. I'm gutted to find quite a few I have missed the focus on the eyes.
This is a bit of a weakness of mine, and I guess I just need to be more careful.

I have always used the method of focus using centre focus point then recompose, and I must admit I had always assumed that's what most people did. But, I've heard and read a few people recently who always use they different focus points and say they find that quicker and more accurate.

Any thought, hint, tips?

 

[Bristolian]

Patrick,

I think most people (myself included) try to use a large aperture when shooting outdoors to get the background out of focus and this can seriously reduce your depth of focus (depending on the lens your using and distance from the subject). I'm guessing that's what you did too and by focusing and recomposing you are probably just exceeding the DOF and I found it hard to appreciate how dramatic this can be at first. Now I always compose the image and use the focus point closest to the eye - that way any recomposing is minimised and you remain within the DOF.

I have no worries about using even the extreme outside focus points on my D300 if I need to

 

[Phil V]

What Steve said, with really shallow DoF focus-recompose can be a nightmare.

 

[PatrickO]

What Steve said, with really shallow DoF focus-recompose can be a nightmare.

Patrick,

I think most people (myself included) try to use a large aperture when shooting outdoors to get the background out of focus and this can seriously reduce your depth of focus (depending on the lens your using and distance from the subject). I'm guessing that's what you did too and by focusing and recomposing you are probably just exceeding the DOF and I found it hard to appreciate how dramatic this can be at first. Now I always compose the image and use the focus point closest to the eye - that way any recomposing is minimised and you remain within the DOF.

I have no worries about using even the extreme outside focus points on my D300 if I need to

Yes, the OOF ones were mainly shallow DOF.

 

[onona]

What Steve said, with really shallow DoF focus-recompose can be a nightmare.

+1

I mainly shoot gigs, always using a fast lens due to the unpredictable and often insufficient lighting. Because the performers move around a lot, focusing and recomposing isn't really a viable approach since the performer can easily move out of that locked spot, resulting in an out of focus image due to the shallow DOF. It's better to use your camera's focus points to your advantage instead, switching to single point AF and manually moving that point to the eyes (which generally means you'll have to nudge the camera itself a bit too but not nearly as much as a focus-recompose approach).

 

[arclight]

You can use the centre focus point successfully if you lock the focus before recomposing.
I think this is most easily done if you assign the AF-ON button as the sole means of achieving focus since once you focus with it releasing the button locks focus (unless you press the AF-ON button again).

 

[PatrickO]

+1

I mainly shoot gigs, always using a fast lens due to the unpredictable and often insufficient lighting. Because the performers move around a lot, focusing and recomposing isn't really a viable approach since the performer can easily move out of that locked spot, resulting in an out of focus image due to the shallow DOF. It's better to use your camera's focus points to your advantage instead, switching to single point AF and manually moving that point to the eyes (which generally means you'll have to nudge the camera itself a bit too but not nearly as much as a focus-recompose approach).

Thanks Leigh, that's a technique I've never tried. Sounds very useful approach - sort of combining focus points and focus-recompose.

You can use the centre focus point successfully if you lock the focus before recomposing.
I think this is most easily done if you assign the AF-ON button as the sole means of achieving focus since once you focus with it releasing the button locks focus (unless you press the AF-ON button again).

I lock the focus point using a half-press of the shutter button. Or am I missing the point? (no pun intended

 

[arclight]

Thanks Leigh, that's a technique I've never tried. Sounds very useful approach - sort of combining focus points and focus-recompose.



I lock the focus point using a half-press of the shutter button. Or am I missing the point? (no pun intended

That should work, but I think it is easy to inadvertently release pressure on the button and thereby lose lock.