Nail your focus in photos!
Focusing might sound simple until you get a professional camera in hands and start exploring the world with it. You don't have to be a sports photographer to face challenges with the focus. It was one of the first things I realized I needed to study further when I decided to become a professional photographer and today I'm going to share my tips on how you can nail it!
SINGLE FOCUS VS CONTINUOUS FOCUS — Learning the difference between Single and Continuous focus was one of my first important lessons on the subject. When you shoot still objects, you will go for single focus and when you want to track a moving object, you'd rather choose continuous focus, so the camera will follow the subject as it moves and adapt the focus itself accordingly. The single focus is very precise in most cases and even though the continuous focus is getting better everyday as new cameras and technologies come out, it misses a couple of frames every now and then. Still, if you're shooting sports or a bride coming down the hall, it is the best way to get more focused photos in a sequence.
With that said, you might also want to play a little with the Focus Area Modes or AF Area Modes on your camera. That gives you some options regarding to the way you want to focus on your subject. You can choose Single Point, Dynamic, Auto-Area, Group Area, Face Priority and others, depending on the model of your equipment. I tried all of them and the one that best works for me is the Single Point Selection. With that option, I have a single spot of focus in the center of the image and, as I half click the shutter-release button to determine my focal point, I can recompose the shot moving the camera up, down or sideways and just then pressing the other half of the button to the bottom. That way, even though I always initially have my subject in the middle of the photo, I can put it wherever I want by moving the camera without losing focus. If you want to know further on other types of Focus Area Modes, search for that option on your camera as today I want to discuss further on aspects I couldn't easily find information about when I first started in photography.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE APERTURE AND SHUTTER SPEED IN FOCUSING — I will never forget my deception when I uploaded the photos from the first wedding I shot as a second photographer. At the camera, all looked fine, but as soon as I got to see the images in a bigger screen, I was devastated. At least one third of the photos were either blurred or out of focus and I couldn't understand why. I was correctly using the single focus with the recomposing technique but still I got so many problematic photos! I chose to go for a lower ISO and compensate with the shutter speed and aperture, but as a beginner, I didn't have in mind a couple of things I wish I did then.
My first mistake was I was using my lens with the highest aperture I could. By then I believed using my 50mm in f/1.4 would give me the creamiest beautiful background and that would be all I needed for good photos! What I didn't know though was that if my subject was considerably close to me, I would get part of it out of focus. Using a wide open aperture will give you very shallow depth of field, meaning your camera will focus on a small area of the photo. The closer you are to the subject, the narrowest the depth of field you will have and therefore, the smallest area of the photo will be in focus.
The aperture also deserves a special attention when jumping from shooting photos where you have one unique subject to group photos. If you want your focus in one person, you will probably be fine with f/1.8 to f/2.8, depending on your distance from it. Two or three people might be ok with f/1.8 to f/2.8 as well, if you're not too close to them. But if you want to take a big group shot, don't even think about going less than f/4. I usually go for f/5.6, just to be sure I got everyone in focus! The same thing goes for food photography, where you usually get close up photos and want to be able to see all the details of the food presented. You won't get it all in focus unless you go from f/5.6 on. And then, of course, you'll probably need more light coming from another source, as you are decreasing the entrance of light with the higher aperture. This extra amount of light could come from a lower shutter speed, a higher ISO or an external speedlight or flash. I had to take many wrong shots until I got one right, as I did not know my aperture could be an issue until I faced the problem on field. Just then I was able to search for specific information and study about it.
The second mistake I made, was with the shutter speed. I didn't consider natural movements people do while talking to each other would affect the focus so much when shooting with a shutter speed of 1/60 or 1/80. I was used to do portrait photography where people usually just stand there and wait until you take the photo. For that, a 1/100 shutter speed might work well, if you got steady hands and a good camera. But for events where people are talking, eating, walking, laughing and so on, it is way too risky. So from the time I started using my shutter speed at 1/160 or higher and my lens at least on f/1.8 in most cases, I stoped having issues with blurry or wrongly focused photos during events. Some new mirrorless cameras in the market are now able to get the focus 100% right in very wide apertures such as f/1.4 or f/1.2 even when people move a little. If you're still deciding on what gear to get, you might be aware to that before making your final decision.
Another way of getting through with the shutter speed problem, is using an external speedlight. As the image is frozen by light shot, you can easily use a very low shutter speed without affecting your subject. It will, though, affect your photo, as the light coming from a flash is very different from natural light and as it might also cause light ghosts — which can be very interesting or not, depending on what you want for the photos.
I'M IN LOW LIGHT, WHAT SHOULD I DO? — Another big issue with focusing tends to happen when one faces a low light situation. If you ever tried to take a photo in the dark with a professional or semi-professional camera, you know what I'm talking about. The camera simply won't find a spot to focus on, even when you can still see the subject with naked eyes. On that case, there is a simple trick that might save you a lot of time: change your focus to manual. That way, you can choose exactly where you want your focus to be and you won't be stuck in the process of half clicking, trying to find a focus, half clicking, trying it again, and so on… with automatic focus, it might take minutes until your camera is finally able to find a spot to focus at and many times it won't hit the spot you had in mind.
CALIBRATE YOUR LENSES — If after all of that you are still facing problems with the focus, the problem might be on your lens. Sometimes you simply need to calibrate your lens according to your camera. It is not a super easy thing to do if your camera doesn't have an option of doing it automatically, but if needed there are many tutorials on the internet explaining how and what to use in order to get this right. It is worth giving it a try!
STILL AN ISSUE? — Different cameras have different sensor sizes and quality, so depending on your equipment, it will be easier or harder for you to always get the focus right. As technology evolves, there are more and more cameras with very good focusing systems in the market. If you already have your gear, do some research to see what you have in hands. If not, don't forget to take that into consideration when choosing your next equipment. Having a camera with a good focus system will save you a lot of headaches and will guarantee a greater amount of photos with a nice, sharp and right to the point focus!
