Friday, January 16, 2009

Hyperfocal Focusing

Another cool little discovery I made today! I had no idea about this type of focusing, but apparently its the best way to photograph landscapes to ensure everything you want is in focus with a high F-stop. There is a chart that you can print off of the internet and take around to make sure you get the right hyperfocal distance with the zoom and f-stop thats being used. I'm excited to try it out because up until this point I have been mainly using the autofocus. I haven't felt comfortable enough to use manual focus, but now I'm invincible!! Oh, I also discovered the Depth of Field preview button on my camera today and I love it. I'm excited to go take more pictures!
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 1:28 PM

    Do you have the address for that chart? Sounds useful...although I should know it from my class, but a chart is always handy!

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  2. About MeJanuary 27, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    Ya its:

    http://dofmaster.com/doftable.html

    You can install a program on your computer to calculate it whenever needed, or print off a small version to go in your camera bag. Its kind of cool I guess, but I'm also a big nerd...

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  3. Rod DeutschmannJanuary 17, 2010 at 4:49 PM

    Using Hyperfocal 'focusing' will change your life, but you don't need any charts.

    If you keep the depth of field preview button depressed (and adjust your aperture accoringly) then you can quite literally focus on your hyperfocal point (gaining the desired DOF) without the paperwork.

    With the DOF preview depressed, slowly bring the foreground element (the point where you want your focus to begin) into focus, making sure that your background remains sharp. If you loose your background (if it gets too soft) then just change your aperture, move backwards or use a shorter focal length lens.

    Use your aperture, focal length and distance as a way of dialing in depth of field. This is old-school, but it works.

    And, you can use this for everything. When you want two people in crisp focus and a blurry background (use it), three people in focus and blurry background (use it), kids playing (use it), flowers blowing in the wind (use it) or a mountain range (use it.)

    You may stop focusing on subjects all together.

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