Lesson 5: Achieving Proper Focus

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

• • • Enable camera’s Single-Shot auto-focus mode to ensure proper focus of subject(s).
    • Use the camera’s viewfinder, shutter button, and audible feedback to attain proper focus of subject(s).

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Focusing on Focus

Learn to Use Auto-Focus

Of all of the skills and techniques involved in taking professional quality family portraits, achieving proper focus may be the most important. Editing tools such as Photoshop and Lightroom can fix or improve many of the oversights that a photographer may make – if the camera is too high or far away the photo can be cropped, if the backdrop is distracting it can be blurred or replaced, and even a photo that is slightly under- or over-exposed can be fixed. Blurry photos, however, have no remedy. Which is why achieving proper focus is so important, and the topic of this lesson.

Just how big a difference can a focused photo make? Take a look at this example:

While DSLR cameras can technically be focused by hand, this is not advisable because of the importance of achieving proper focus as mentioned above. There is little worse than a blurry photograph. Given this, it is recommended to have your camera do the focusing for you. This involves a function called auto-focus, which may or may not be enabled on your camera. To enable it, follow these steps:

Enable Your Camera’s Auto-Focus

1. 1. 1. Access camera’s menu settings by clicking the ‘Settings’ button next to viewfinder
      2. Access auto-focus options by selecting it from the listed options
      3. Select ‘Single Shot’ mode by selecting it from the listed options
      4. Verify the selection, if prompted

Single Shot focus mode is preferred by portrait photographers because once focus on a stationary subject is achieved, it prevents the camera from continuously attempting to re-adjust focus (which would be beneficial for moving subjects). With Single Shot auto-focus enabled you are now ready to focus on your subjects. To do so, with your camera positioned at eye-level (be sure your lens cap is off) use the camera’s viewfinder to aim the focus point target at your subject’s eyes. Depress the shutter button half-way to activate auto-focus. Keep the shutter button depressed half-way until you hear a beep confirming that auto-focus has been achieved.

Note: After focus has been achieved—before you take the photo— it is important that the camera and subject remain stationary. If either moves you must repeat the process outlined below to achieve proper focus.

In Summary

The importance of properly focusing your subject cannot be overstated. By enabling the camera’s auto-focus feature, setting it to Single Shot mode, confirming focus on the subject’s eyes, and keeping the camera and subject(s) stationary after focus has been achieved you exponentially increase the chances of success. Now that your photo is properly composed, exposed, and focused it’s time to capture the portrait and evaluate the results!

Self Check

GIVE IT A TRY!

Practice achieving proper focus of your subject based on what you’ve learned in this lesson. Before taking a photo, be sure to re-check that your subject is in focus – even the slightest movements toward or away from the camera can cause focus issues.

YOU CAN DO THIS! Post your favorite photos to social media.

As you continue to hone your new skills, keep posting your best photos to your favorite social media sites. While this involves tools and techniques that are outside the scope of this module, posting your work to social media will expose your work to the outside world, encourage you to keep going, and challenge you to expand your skills.

ADVANCED TOPIC: Depth of Field (DOF)

Depth of Field (DoF) is the distance between the nearest and farthest in-focus objects in a photograph, and is controlled by adjusting the aperture (opening) of the lense. Portrait photographers use DoF to blur the background to bring more focus to the subject.

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Continue to Lesson 6: Reviewing Your Results