Where Do You Focus?

[GSiGuy]

Borrowing a shot from Flickr to illustrate a question i have... which is; where do you generally focus on a shot like this to get as much of the picture sharp as possible? And what aperture would you shoot it at?

I read about hyperfocal length but you know how the new lenses are these days without a distance gauge...

 

[sunnycamera]

focus infinity, f8 to f16,

equip focal length, 35 to 50mm range,

my guess

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/where-to-focus-in-landscape-photography

Recommends you focus about a third of the way in to keep the foreground nice and sharp.

In this case I'd personally focus on the blue part of the boat since that's the foreground subject of interest. Then stop down till about f/11 to maximize DOF without diffraction softening.

 

[GSiGuy]

thats the thing it some pple say 1/3 way in, some say infinity...

 

[machiavellian]

get a DA15 for the scale. Hahaha. :bsmilie:

 

[machiavellian]

on a serious note though, I would focus on the center of the image, which happens to be the first red "leg", and set the aperture to between f/11-16.

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

But if you focus at infinity you lose half of the DOF right?

 

[Supersimon27]

Depend on focal length . If I using my 8mm I will use F11 and focus on the white part that is very near to me . 8mm in crop with f11 should bring everything in focus as long as u are 20cm a part from focus point

 

[GSiGuy]

you know, i once just focused on the furthest point and for most cases where the foreground is not so impt, it looks ok... i tried a few times at 1/3 but tend to lose background and mid-area sharpness even at f22...

i think Machiavellian is correct. maybe it takes abit of "spatial awareness" to work out where exactly is 1/3 depth of the way into the entire scene...

 

[GSiGuy]

Depend on focal length . If I using my 8mm I will use F11 and focus on the white part that is very near to me . 8mm in crop with f11 should bring everything in focus as long as u are 20cm a part from focus point

Hi Simon, what does "8mm in crop" mean...

 

[Supersimon27]

Hi Simon, what does "8mm in crop" mean...

8mm in crop = 12mm

 

[GSiGuy]

8mm in crop = 12mm

Oh! Sorry... knock head! silly me..

Anyway i suppose following from hyperfocal length calculation then the bigger the FL the further away?

 

[machiavellian]

Oh! Sorry... knock head! silly me..

Anyway i suppose following from hyperfocal length calculation then the bigger the FL the further away?

yup, the wider the focal length, the more leeway it is for hyperfocal. And by f/22, diffraction occurs, which resulted to you not being able to get sharpness in the overall picture. Though at f/16, diffraction does occur, but less pronounced and in most cases, it's still usable.

 

[GSiGuy]

yup, the wider the focal length, the more leeway it is for hyperfocal. And by f/22, diffraction occurs, which resulted to you not being able to get sharpness in the overall picture. Though at f/16, diffraction does occur, but less pronounced and in most cases, it's still usable.

i blame bryan peterson for shooting scapes at f22 :-(

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

Just focus bracket and blend later lor.. If you wanna cheat the laws of physics that's the only way to do it to get maximum sharpness throughout.

 

[GSiGuy]

Just focus bracket and blend later lor..

i wish i know how to do that...

 

[fengwei]

i wish i know how to do that...

It's also called stacking... take two or more shots of the same view (better use a tripod), but each shot focus at different part of the frame, normally one at the infinity, one at the middle and one at the foreground should be more than enough for landscapes. Later on merge three shots together in photoshop...

 

[Anthony Lee]

It's also called stacking... take two or more shots of the same view (better use a tripod), but each shot focus at different part of the frame, normally one at the infinity, one at the middle and one at the foreground should be more than enough for landscapes. Later on merge three shots together in photoshop...

If I may add, also do different exposures on the sky, sea and land.

 

[flowerpot]

1/3 is just a guide... in fact everything is just a guide...

looking at the image... the white thing on the foreground is so huge and right in your face... its gonna be irritating if thats not well focused...

no ppl subject just use tripod and focus stack foreground and background... else i just go for the foreground... that little resting hut in the background is just a supporting cast to me....

 

[oceanpriest]

i blame bryan peterson for shooting scapes at f22 :-(

Ansel Adams routinely shot landscapes at f32 (his favorite), but that's for large format. With smaller circle of confusion on aps-c, the diffraction is enlarged and visible with lower f-stops. Not to mention the pixie dust on digital :bsmilie: