Craft - Practice Focus
This was at a 200 mm focal length
This photo I took of the girl in Villa de Leyva, Columbia, I love. Obviously she doesn’t know I am around so what she is doing is natural. It is telling a story: what is she thinking about? What is she holding in her hand? Is her mother going to get her Chocolate there? Because, I have taken over 100,000 photos in my photographic life, doing lots of things wrong, and failing to capture what I wanted (provided I had any intention in my mind before I took a shot) I have learned to recognize a potential photo. That is why Pat Kay recommends taking pictures everyday if you want to improve your photographic craft!
When beginning in photography, I would worry less about compositional theory, such as golden spirals, and rule of thirds, and such. Make your compositions less analytical and more intuitive. What are you feeling about the shot. If there is anything that is pulling you into the scene, just go with it and take the shot. Never second guess yourself.
Having said this, one of the biggest reasons why so many shots I did were bad, was because they were out of focus! With a real camera, instead of using a phone, there are so many ways to screw up focus! I would recommend if you want to improve your photography that you work on focus as a top priority every single time you go out and shoot during your practice. And yes I said practice, because if you are serious, you as a photographer are always practicing with your camera! You are practicing your craft. Through your practice you will create your own unique signature style!
One way to go out of focus is selecting the wrong automatic focus modes and settings. With modern cameras today there is no reason why you shouldn’t always use continuous focus. Also you need the camera to focus on the subject you care about and this means setting the focus area for the camera correctly. There are just so many ways to fail here by setting the camera up wrong and doing the wrong things. Thus Mark Galer’s video link to help you!!
Another great way to screw up the focus of a picture is to shoot with the wrong depth of field. The aperture on the lens controls the depth of field, which controls how much of the picture will be in focus. Simply put, a really small hole (high f-stop number) will have a very large depth of field meaning most of the picture will be in focus. With a very large hole (low f-stop number) you will have a very shallow depth of field and very little of the image will be in focus (but if you nailed the focus on your subject it will have a lovely blurred background called a Bokeh). A 85 mm f-1.4 lens has an extremely large aperture opening and produces an astonishing Bokeh! For the shot of the girl I needed everything in focus for what I was trying to achieve so I had a small aperture opening (f stop of around 8 or so).
This was at about a 50 mm focal length.
In my opinion, as someone that has failed so many times in the field, when you think of Craft, especially as a beginner, you work on focus! Great focus produces really pleasing sharp images. Getting the autofocus right and the focal area nailed is your first step. Selecting the right lens and it’s correct aperture setting for what you are trying to achieve, is your second step. Focus on these two steps first in your practice!
