What exactly do you focus on when shooting a subject?

[Braineack]

I think the recompose in this instance was enough to throw her face out of the DOF window.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I agree, the shoes look sharply in focus and the rest of her isn't - but she's at a slight angle to you. So it looks like there was hardly any depth of field, I wouldn't have the lens so open. Like Derrel said you might need to rethink your process, maybe start with more midrange aperture settings and then try larger apertures.

What about instead of people just taking some objects out to set up (big teddy bear maybe? or just go shoot some solitary object, a park bench or lamp post) - then stand in the same place and shoot it at different apertures so you can see the difference in the depth of field. Then go try it being up close at different apertures, then do the same thing from a bit farther away, etc. and notice the differences.

I focus manually, even shooting hockey, I learned that when I was young so it's second nature to me - but I don't think there's necessarily a right way or that the same thing works for everybody; it's a matter of learning how to focus and what works (and what doesn't) and getting in plenty of practice.

 

[KmH]

Cross-type AF points detect both horizontal and vertical edges.

Regular focus points can detect one or the other - but not both.

Some regular AF points are oriented to detect horizontal edges, some regular AF points are oriented to detect vertical edges.