Struggling with focus

2 years 9 months ago #722481 by amandavdc
I am not new to photography but I am new to portrait photography.  I am struggling to get my son's face in sharp focus.  The wall behind him is sharp even though the focus point is his right eye.  This is a consistent problem for me.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.



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2 years 9 months ago #722482 by Shadowfixer1
In this situation I personally would use AF-S, smallest target and place the target on the eye/face.
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2 years 9 months ago #722485 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day Amanda

Firstly - WELCOME to the PT forum ... you will meet plenty of keen photographers here who are willing to share skills and tips :)

Our mate SF above is on the button here ... the AF-C ('C' for continuous) means that as the camera moves from side to side, it resets focus onto whatever is in the middle of the viewfinder ~ so the AF-S (Single) is better in this case

To use it you
a) place the main focus point onto the face, then
b) half-press the shutter button till the camera beeps to say 'focus is now locked', then
c) gently move the camera up-down-sideways without losing the shutter button, and
d) take the photo

I might sound a bit involved but it is the way most of us work with our photo taking day-in, day-out (where the subject is not moving)

Hope this helps
Phil

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

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2 years 9 months ago #722487 by amandavdc
I actually use back button focus. I was trying both AF-C and AF- S to see if that would make a difference. It didn't seem to. I also tried less and more focus points.

Thanks for the ideas though.


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2 years 9 months ago #722541 by Shadowfixer1

amandavdc wrote: I actually use back button focus. I was trying both AF-C and AF- S to see if that would make a difference. It didn't seem to. I also tried less and more focus points.

Thanks for the ideas though.

There may be an equipment problem if that's the best focus you can achieve. Does manual focus give you a sharp image?
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2 years 9 months ago #722674 by Brachenland
This is just one of those instances where you need to perform what is called a forced focus. This is where you touch the screen as to where you want the camera to focus. At this point you would view the live view screen then with your finger pinpoint/touch where you want the camera to focus.


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