Photo focus

How to improve focus in photography

Tutorial to learn how to set the focus on a camera

The reason why your photos are blurred is often because of bad focus. If the focus is not in the right place, then the photo will be blurred!

To illustrate, we will do a little exercise to get the basic idea of focus:

Thus, in this photo tutorial, we will learn how to focus correctly.

What are the collimators in photography?

Collimators (or Autofocus, AF points) are the small squares that you see in the viewfinder of your camera when you half-press the shutter release button. A reflex camera contains many collimators (i.e., from 3 to 61) that allow selecting the area that needs to be focused on. When you press the shutter release halfway, you’ll hear a short beep or two, and some collimators will appear in red. They will, therefore, tell you exactly where the focus will fall. Collimators, therefore, allow you to choose the exact area of focus – the area that will be sharp.

Photo edited in Lightroom

Ways to use focus?

Generally, there are two ways to use focus with a camera:

Manual focus – the photographer can turn the focusing ring on the lens:

Automatic focus:

The different autofocus modes:

The different modes of autofocus zones:

Firstly, automatic zone – gives priority to the nearest subject: the camera chooses where to focus. In general, it will focus on the subject closest to you
Secondly, selective area – the manual selection of a single collimator: this will achieve a very accurate focus on the selected area
Then, dynamic zone – the manual selection of a single collimator + adjacent collimators: Again, we will have only one collimator, but still, the camera will use the information provided by the neighbouring collimators to refine the focus
Finally, 3-D Autofocus Tracking – all collimators are active: Exclusive to Nikon, the principle of 3-D tracking is to hook the subject with a collimator. Therefore, if the subject moves, the camera will automatically follow it and select new collimators. As long as the shutter release is pressed halfway and the subject is covered by a collimator, then the 3-D tracking is active.

Impossible to focus – What to do if you can’t autofocus…

In some situations, the autofocus may not be able to focus, which might be due to a lack of contrast or a lack of brightness. For instance, if you try to focus on a blue sky without clouds, the autofocus will not be able to focus on a subject because there is no contrast. The same thing will happen in case you try to focus in complete darkness. The solution is to switch to manual mode, and if it doesn’t perform autofocus due to a lack of brightness, then just direct a light source at your subject for a short time.

Photo edited in Photoshop

Where can we focus on a photo?

Where to focus will certainly depend on the subject: For instance, focus on the eyes of an animal or on portrait photography. Very often, the goal in landscape photography is to have a crystal clear photograph; therefore, you will initially need to have the greatest possible depth of field. It will also be essential to focus on the hyperfocal distance.

The technique of photo cropping

We will now learn the technique of photo cropping. Its purpose is often to decentralize a subject. In order to succeed with this technique, I advise you to select the central collimator because it is the most accurate one. To focus on the desired subject, press the shutter release halfway, then crop the image according to the desired composition, and then press the shutter release fully. For instance, look at the picture of the bride below. We focused on the dress, then cropped to get a better perspective, and finally took the photo.

Are your pictures still blurry?

Consider checking if your shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the movement. Click here to read the full article about shutter speed. Also, check that your depth of field is not too shallow. Click here to read the full article about depth of field.

Conclusion

Select the collimators manually in order to ensure effective focusing and clear photos in the right place! Use the selective zone for static subjects, so that you can accurately select the focus zone. Use the dynamic zone or 3-D tracking for moving subjects if your camera allows it. Always remember that you are an artist, so it is up to you to let your creativity express itself and decide where you want to focus. Now you know how to focus on your subject in order to obtain a sharp photograph perfectly. Please give us your opinion about this article, and also share your experiences in the comments.