focusing

[nikongirl34]

I genenerally always use auto focus but im wondering if manual focusing is better? How do you manual focus anyway? It may be a stupid question I guess but when I switch my focus to manual then look through the view find everything is blurry. Ive read alot of people saying when taking portraits to focus on the eyes so that they are sharp but im wondering how to do that as well becasue on autofucus it generally just focuses on the whole person, not just their eyes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[Robin Usagani]

You can change the setting of you Auto focus to only 1 point.

 

[peterhanowell]

Ditto what was said above - set the focus on one of the potential points (I leave mine this way for 99% of what I shoot. I recompose the image after focus is done.)

Manual focus isn't that mysterious, but it is relatively hard for me since I wear glasses. I can just never quite tell if I have it just righte.

Peter
--
Wedding Photographer Tallahassee

 

[o hey tyler]

Well, if the whole person is in focus, rather than just their eyes; I don't think that's something to be worried about.

Back in the day, most cameras came with a split image focusing screen. So that when you looked through the viewfinder, there was a tiny circle in the center that showed a small portion of your image in focus. What you had to do was line up the image within the circle (it's cut in half if it's out of focus). Current DSLRs come with less forgiving focusing screens, which almost causes you to rely on autofocus. That's why fast and accurate autofocus is sought after, and held in high regard. Having a full frame 35mm eqiv. FOV helps substantially.

I personally would suggest using one focus point (the center is the most accurate), and keep using autofocus until you are more familiar with your camera. Stopping down your aperture will also help you focus as well. Shooting on f/8 gives you great optical performance, and a forgiving DOF when manually focusing.

 

[KmH]

I genenerally always use auto focus but im wondering if manual focusing is better? How do you manual focus anyway? It may be a stupid question I guess but when I switch my focus to manual then look through the view find everything is blurry. Ive read alot of people saying when taking portraits to focus on the eyes so that they are sharp but im wondering how to do that as well becasue on autofucus it generally just focuses on the whole person, not just their eyes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Read the "Focus" section of your camera users manual. There are 3 different auto focus modes:

1. AF-A
2. AF-S
3. AF-C

and a couple of focus area modes:

1. Single point
2. dynamic

You might mention which Nikon camea you have so we know which autofocus module you have available to work with:

• Multi-CAM 530 - 3 focus points
• Multi-CAM 1000 - 11 focus points, 1 cross-type point
• Multi-CAM 3500 - 51 focus points, 15 cross-type point
• Multi-CAM 4000 - 39 focus points, 9 cross-type point

 

[pbelarge]

This might be a little help.

http://focustestchart.com/chart.html


Edit: I posted the wrong link, sorry

 

[SrBiscuit]

eyes are generally the important thing to have in focus in a portrait.
the fact that youre getting the whole person to be in focus tells us 2 things...
1. youve got your subject in focus - good
2. you're using an aperature thats high enough to have a DOF that is deep enough to keep the whole person in focus - good or bad...depending on what you want.

like tyler, i would suggest using a single point for your focus. usually i use the center one, and recompose if i want my focal point off-center.
and keep using AF...that's what its there for.

and it's not necessarily the fact that youre on AF that is making the whole person in focus...aperature effects the DOF, so you could manually focus on eyes all day, but if your DOF is deep enough, the whole person will likely be in focus.

i think i just said the same thing like 3 times....oi i need a nap.