Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-12-14)

16 14 December 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

THE SHARPNESS PLAYBOOK: PRACTICAL TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Howmuchfocus?
Decidewhatyouwantin focusfirst.If it’s
a portrait,perhapsyouwantjusttheperson
in focus.If so,usea longerlensanda wider
aperture.However,if thebackgroundis
important,thenmakesurethat’sin focus,too,
byeitherusinga widerlensornarrowingyour
aperture to create a greater depth of field.

Focusontheeyes

Whenyouareshootinglivesubjects,the

majorityof thetimeyouwanttofocuson

theeyes,ortheeyeclosesttoyou.Move

theautofocuspointaroundinsidethe

viewfinderuntilit sitsovertheeyesof the

subject,orfocusontheeyesthenrecompose

your scene before taking the shot.

Keepthingsquick

Shootingactionrequiresa fastshutterspeed

tofreezethemovement.Speedsof 1/500sec

andfastershouldfreezealmostanymoving

subjectandavoidcamerashake.However,

whenpanningwithyoursubjectyoucancreate

theillusionof speedbyslowingtheshutter

speed slightly and blurring the background.

ourapertureis.Toincreasethedepth
offield,wenarrowtheapertureand
viceversa.Interestingly,focallengthalso
playsitspartininfluencingdepthoffield

• thelongerthelens,theshallowerthe
  depthoffield.Forexample,if shootinga
  portraitonan85mmlens,we’llneedto
  takeintoaccounttheshallowersliceof
  focusthisprovidesandadjust our
  apertureaccordingly.

Landscapes
Sharplandscapephotographsareeasy
toobtainusingoneoftwomethods.Either
byfocusingatthehyperfocaldistancein
thescene,orbytakinga seriesofimages
in which the focus shifts from foreground

tobackground,thencreatinga single

ultra-sharpimagelaterasa compositein

postproduction.Thequickestwaybyfar

is tousethehyperfocaldistance– thatis,

thepointinthescenetoplaceyourfocus

fromwhichtoachievethegreatestdepth

offield.A goodruleofthumbis toplace

thefocuspointatdoublethedistanceof

thenearestobjectinyourcomposition.

Forexample,if thenearestobjectis one

metreaway,focustotwometrestomake

foregroundandbackgroundequallysharp.

Themorelabour-intensivemethod,

focusbracketing(akafocusstacking)sees

ustakeshotaftershot,withthefocus

pointgraduallymovingfromtheclosest

object in the foreground to infinity. This

canbeachievedmanuallybyadjustingthe

focusringbetweeneachshot,butmany

DSLRsandmirrorlesscamerasnowcome

witha built-infocus-bracketingfunction

whereyoucandefinethe‘step-size’

(distancebetweeneachfocuspoint)and

howmanyshotstotakeinonerunfrom

thelens’sminimumfocusingdistanceup

toinfinity.Withtheimagesonthecard,

it’sthena caseofloadingtheminto

softwaresuchasAdobePhotoshopto

generatea focusstackandconvertthe

separatephotos into one sharp shot.

Close-ups

Macrophotographyis uniqueinthatit

showcases some of the shallowest depth

Whenshootinglongdistances,

evenontelephotolenses,it’s

possibletogetsharpnessfront

tobackbyincreasingISOand

narrowingtheaperture,with

thesacrificeofshutterspeed

NikonD750,70-200mm lens, 1/200sec

at f/8, ISO 100