Many dSLRs have the default setting to focus on the middle point. If you don’t want the subject of your photo in the center of the image in your photos, you are forced to focus and recompose. This is done by pressing the shutter button 1/2way down then moving your camera to the new composition and pressing the rest of the way.
While this is fine if you are shooting at say, an f/8 or smaller, or from a far distance at a more open aperture – generally, the action of swinging the angle of the camera to the new composition is enough to throw the subject soft or out of focus.
In portraiture, professional photographers often like to emphasize the subject’s face, hands, or feet and remove all distracting elements by throwing them out of focus using a shallow depth of field.
Let’s say your subject is fairly close to you, and you want a shallow depth of field to remove the distractions of the background. The swing of your camera to place your subject from center to the rule of thirds is enough that your image will not be sharp.
This image was shot at an aperture of f/1.8. Swinging this focus from center to this composition with baby at the lower 1/3 of the image, would result in an out-of-focus image. Instead, baby is sharp and at 100% you can count each and every sweet little eye lash.
Instead,
Different makes and models of cameras offer a varying number of focal points. The Canon 5d Mark II has 9 focal points to choose from and the Nikon d700 has 51. Some cameras will handle focusing better nearer the center focal points, and may struggle with focus on the fringe focal points. I’ve not had trouble using the focal points that sit along the Rule of Thirds with my camera.
Use something that doesn’t move or a very patient family member to try these focus points on your own camera. Practice selecting focus at various focal points your camera offers. Let us know how it goes!
You answered a question I have been wondering about recently. Thank you so much for taking time to teach these lessons and share them.
That would be great to choose the perfect point, but with the 5dmii, as you said, there are only 9 points, so 90% of the time you must focus and recompose anyway, and from a “less strong” focus point, so there’s a downside with Canon.
Awesome! I guess I’m doing a great job on this matter by taking advantage of my new upgraded model; the D7000! It features a customizable 39 point AF system and I love it!!
Thanks for sharing what’s in your bag Darcy! I was surprised when my SIL’s D90 only had 3 focal points? My d5000 has 9? but 51? dang!
I’m sooo guilty of F&R method. I haven’t figured out BBF yet, and my XT doesn’t have enough toggle points and it becomes annoying, so single point focus was my way out, till I figured out the rest. Sometimes, I forget to close the aperture and then my focal point is moved, and that stinks
so w/the d700 – you can use the single focus on the back or the cross-hair right and just move it around so you don’t have to focus and recompose? And then do you set your front sensor to AF-S or AF-C?
Iuse the cross-hair and move it where I want it.
For most of my still clients I use Single. I find my % of in-focus, tack-sharp shots are higher when I use Single. If I am shooting a very busy toddler, I will switch to continuous. This will increase the number of shots that are sharp. With wiggle toddlers and fast preschoolers, I just accept that some shots will be blurry. I overshoot anyway so it’s fine. And sometimes I like a good blur-motion shot (and so do the parents!) that shows how very busy our little subject is.
I just got my D700 last week(yay!) and I’m so glad to read this post and these comments. I have been a bit frustrated and there are so many opinions out there. My biggest frustration was knowing that toggling my focus points got me the best results but the fact that button/cross hair is a bit clumsy and the focus points don’t seem to respond fast enough to catch my pre-schoolers. That and I keep getting people telling me I am doing it wrong (they think I should be using center and recompose) and that I should never use continuous. I feel a little better now.=) Thanks!
I’m so happy to read this. It seems like everyone has a different method, so I’ve been experimenting with both, but I’m always more successful when I use the focal points. My entry level dSLR only has 9, but that’s enough for me at this point! I’ve been working hard on creating beautiful bokeh on my not-so-beautiful Christmas tree this year!
Thanks for the great series. I think it’s hard changing the focus points unless you are setting up each shot and know exactly what you’re going to shoot. With my kids I utilize the focus/recompose method because if I took the time to change my focus point (I know it can be done pretty quick) I’m losing the shot because my kid is running away. So although the method taught above is great and leads to tack sharp pics, I think for most parents trying to capture their children from day to day, the focus/recompose method is a more efficient method and still lead to pretty sharp pics.
I’m kind of confused. Is this the same for when you use back button focusing? I know that before I used the back button i would focus and recompose and had a lot of not in focus images because it. but now i use the back button and i focus and recompose and my images are are fine. sure some are out of focus, but that’s normal and expected. fiddling with focus points is so annoying when on a shoot with moving children. it’s just not entirely practical.