Photo Insights - USA (2020-01)

(Antfer) #1

The Two Subject FOCUS Rule


I


f the only subject in a photograph


isn’t in focus, the picture is a failure.
Similarly, if there are two subjects in

a picture, and only one of them is sharp, I con-


sider that a failure as well.


The picture below of green bee eaters in Sri


Lanka is a perfect example. The small birds


were perched so close together that I thought


-- even with a 450mm focal length (a 100-


400mm telephoto plus a 1.4x teleconverter) --


an f/8 lens aperture would be enough to cap-


ture both of the birds in focus. I was wrong.


The bird on the left is obviously not sharp, and


that ruins an otherwise good shot.


I know there are photographers, both profes-


sional and amateur, that disagree with this
position, and that’s fine. But when one of two

subjects isn’t sharp, I find that to be visually


annoying, terribly distracting, and less than


ideal.


I photographed the black-tailed deer fawns


on the next page with a telephoto lens. I was


shooting with a large lens aperture of f/5.6, and


unless the two deer were precisely equidistant


to the camera, one of them wouldn’t be sharp.
So, I waited until that occurred and then took

the picture. Being aware of this issue enables


you to take the ideal image.

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