Where to focus?

[Fotis7]

Last one! It's extremely wrong to focus to Cathedral/Castle? (but also have the bridge in focus). If it's not wrong, i have to go for example at F/11? This is really the last one (for today ). Thanks for the answers and sorry for the so many questions from the 1st day!!! Goodnight from Athens!

 

[Braineack]

Just play with a DOF calculator.

The Castle in the scene is very far into the distance -- you could risk having parts of the foreground out-of-focus.

BUT at f/11 and a 35mm lens, if you focus at 30ft or 3000ft, everything will be in focus.

 

[malling]

But it would most likely not be as sharp as with f/8, as mention before that is where most (especially cheaper) lenses perform the best.

 

[Designer]

Last one! It's extremely wrong to focus to Cathedral/Castle? (but also have the bridge in focus). If it's not wrong, i have to go for example at F/11?

It is not "wrong", but in order to get the entire city in focus, you should focus on something in the middle (or 1/3 of the distance in the foreground, and 2/3 of the distance in the background.

Using the properties of DOF, you can isolate your subject (person, building, etc.) from the background and the foreground by purposefully blurring the non-important parts of your composition. In that case, you would focus on the building and throw the FG and BG out of focus.

The aperture you choose will depend on other factors, such as the sensor in your camera, and the focal length of your lens (as well as the distances involved). Using the example posted above, a 35 mm lens stopped down to f/11 gives you a very deep DOF.

 

[Fotis7]

I have to focus somewhere on the signs of the attached photo?

 

[vintagesnaps]

I'm not understanding what you mean, why you'd have to focus there?

I'd probably focus along that bridge, or maybe along the shoreline. And - take more than one picture. Focus in more than one place. I focus manually, but then I've been a photographer forever and can focus more accurately myself.

Use a smaller aperture, especially if it's bright and sunny, you'll probably need to do that anyway, and get enough depth of field. Use your meter to determine if you're getting an adequate amount of light to get a proper exposure.

If you want to emphasize that castle try framing differently than in this example. Take a shot framing vertically, and forget the bridge! lol Get the right side of the scene in the frame so you aren't trying to get so much in the photo. Take some vertical and some horizontal, some with the entire scene and some with mostly the right side to make the castle to stand out more.

 

[Sharpshooterr]

I have to focus somewhere in the signs in the attached photo.

Fotis, welcome to the forum.
I think you’re just a bit skeptical because you don’t fully understand the concepts at play here.
From the DoF charts provided you have a huge DoF, so no matter what you do its' gonna give the shot you’re after. One thing I didn’t see here, maybe it’s been mentioned and I missed it. Keep the camera on ISO 100 to keep IQ robbing noise to absolute minimum.
Since you’ll be at f8 or so, make sure you’ve got the shutter speed to not introduce unintended motion blur. Where you focus is almost irrelevant within reason because of the deep DoF.
I would certainly not recompose. There is no reason to. Yes the center point is most sensitive but in a completely static shot sensitivity doesn’t come into play. With the busyness of that shot, point sensitivity is not an issue, only for very low light, fast moving action or a blank walk with very little contrast for the focus system to lock onto. only in the water or up in the sky might you even have a focus issue.
And even though your WA lens is fast, I would never shoot it wide open unless I specifically was trying to shoot a shallow DoF. NO lens is sharpest wide open, always stop down when you can for sharpness.
I think you’re starting to overthink this! Good luck
SS