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June 4, 2010
Friday Photo Lesson: FOCUS
Welcome to week two of a four week Ella Photography Series. For the next four Fridays, Noel and Moon will be sharing their photography tips, tricks and challenges to help you take better photographs. Each week they will be focusing on a different topic. This week's topic is FOCUS.
Noel shares her secrets for getting focused:
Focus is one of those fabulous photography tools that takes your pictures to a new level. Much like zooming in or cropping out, focus can draw the eye in. If you have an DSLR camera, one of the easiest settings to work with focus is the Aperture Priority setting. (This is the little "A" on a Nikon or Av on a Canon.) Set the aperture to the widest setting (lowest number) your lens will allow, your camera will automatically set the shutter speed for your picture. The aperture for this picture was set to f 2.8. This kept the flowers in focus, but my daughter's hands blurred.
Focus can also be used to tell a story. In this picture my older daughter is in focus, while my younger daughter across from her is out of focus. I had been thinking about how much my younger daughter sometimes feels like she lives in the shadow of her older sister. With using focus selectively, I tried to put this story in photo form.
Change the focal point to change the mood of a picture. These pictures were taken at the same time. The first picture has a very different feeling than the second picture, although the pose is the same. The second is simply focused on her feet in daddy's shoes while holding a flag. Try focusing on one aspect of a subject to bring tell a different story.
Now it's Moon's turn to share:
It seems like cameras now a days are really smart. They can automatically set your exposure. They can automatically pop your flash when there isn't enough light. They can seek out faces in a frame. And they can auto focus. All great and wonderful things except when the camera thinks that it's smarter than you...
No no no! I don't WANT you to focus on his face. I want the ball. THE BALL, you dumb camera.
Ah, that's better...
Focus is just one of those things you never think about except when it doesn't work properly. Hopefully, these tips will allow you to find your focus and outsmart your camera.
:)
If your photos are blurry, these may be the reasons behind the blur:
You're too close to your subject. Back up. If you want close up shots, you can always crop it in closer in your photo editing software. If that isn't an option, you may want to look into getting a macro lens or one that allows you to get closer shots.
Aperture is too wide. Two weeks ago, I touched briefly on aperture and DOF (depth of field). But you might be saying Moon, I need my aperture set to the widest setting because I don't have enough light. And I will say, increase your ISO. And you might say, my ISO is at its highest setting too. And I'll say, sorry dude, you're going to have to use a flash.
Shutter speed is too low. Make sure this doesn't get below 1/100 of a second. Ever.
Your camera isn't focusing on the right thing. If you are shooting in full auto mode, you do not have control of your focal points. In auto mode, your camera is going to find the area(s) of highest contrast and focus there. In the program modes, you have complete control of where you want your focus to be. When shooting children, I put my focal point right over the child's eye, between the whites and the iris or between the pupil and iris if they have light colored eyes. Here's an example:
Unsharp Mask: this is a filter in PS that is used to enhance your photos. It's easy to get a little carried away with this tool but a rule of thumb for me is, if you run this filter once and the image is still fuzzy then there's really no way you're going to get a sharp image out of it.
Well, we hope these tips help in getting good focus in the future.
~Noel and Moon
Ella loves photography. Our two photography eBooks have been super popular. They retail for $5.99 each but if you buy both you can save 20 percent using this coupon code, SUMMERPICS. So do it!
Noel shares her secrets for getting focused:
Focus is one of those fabulous photography tools that takes your pictures to a new level. Much like zooming in or cropping out, focus can draw the eye in. If you have an DSLR camera, one of the easiest settings to work with focus is the Aperture Priority setting. (This is the little "A" on a Nikon or Av on a Canon.) Set the aperture to the widest setting (lowest number) your lens will allow, your camera will automatically set the shutter speed for your picture. The aperture for this picture was set to f 2.8. This kept the flowers in focus, but my daughter's hands blurred.
Focus can also be used to tell a story. In this picture my older daughter is in focus, while my younger daughter across from her is out of focus. I had been thinking about how much my younger daughter sometimes feels like she lives in the shadow of her older sister. With using focus selectively, I tried to put this story in photo form.
Change the focal point to change the mood of a picture. These pictures were taken at the same time. The first picture has a very different feeling than the second picture, although the pose is the same. The second is simply focused on her feet in daddy's shoes while holding a flag. Try focusing on one aspect of a subject to bring tell a different story.
Now it's Moon's turn to share:
It seems like cameras now a days are really smart. They can automatically set your exposure. They can automatically pop your flash when there isn't enough light. They can seek out faces in a frame. And they can auto focus. All great and wonderful things except when the camera thinks that it's smarter than you...
No no no! I don't WANT you to focus on his face. I want the ball. THE BALL, you dumb camera.
Ah, that's better...
Focus is just one of those things you never think about except when it doesn't work properly. Hopefully, these tips will allow you to find your focus and outsmart your camera.
:)
If your photos are blurry, these may be the reasons behind the blur:
Unsharp Mask: this is a filter in PS that is used to enhance your photos. It's easy to get a little carried away with this tool but a rule of thumb for me is, if you run this filter once and the image is still fuzzy then there's really no way you're going to get a sharp image out of it.
Well, we hope these tips help in getting good focus in the future.
~Noel and Moon
Picture Perfect
40 Top Tips for Better Photographs
Ella loves photography. Our two photography eBooks have been super popular. They retail for $5.99 each but if you buy both you can save 20 percent using this coupon code, SUMMERPICS. So do it!
Posted at 08:51 AM
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I love these tips! We're SO lucky to have these talented women on our little team. ;-)
We are lucky that these great photographers are sharing their little secrets!! Beautiful and touching photos ladies and great post!
Ann
Everett, WA
I am loving your Friday Photo Lessons. I'm learning a lot, and appreciate your posts.
I just looked on my dorky little point and shoot and was so happy to find I also have an aperture setting thingamabobber! Just tested it out and holy crow... who knew a little point and shoot could do that.. Thanks for the tips!!!