The Importance of Focus

This week I am emphasizing the importance of concentrating on focus with my associate photographers and thought I would include the same information here on the blog

How many of you show your clients pictures from the back of the camera as you go?  Well, do it with caution.  Because sometimes a picture that looks great on the back of the camera is not actually client worthy when you go back and start reviewing your images.

As I review the images from a shoot in Lightroom, I rate the ones I want to edit so I can filter them out later.  And when I see a photo I want to include I always zoom in on the face at 100%.  The reason?  Because some photos may look fine web sized BUT actually have the focus be off just a little bit.  Here is an example...

These two pictures were taken within seconds of each other.  The web sized versions look pretty much the same.  But above them are the 100% crops of one eye from each baby.  Notice what a big difference there is in the focus.  The first picture the eye is MUCH sharper and you can see a little crud to the right of the eye.  The second photo is clearly not in focus and you can't even see where that crud is.  So if you had not viewed the image at 100% before showing it to the client, you are setting yourself up for a bad situation - especially if they decide they want to order a large print. 

So, be sure you check your focus carefully before showing your client your images.  I have noticed a number of new photographers that seem to have very soft focus in their images. Focus is something that you should definitely not compromise on.

Both photos taken with the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 50mm 1.2L Lens.

Comments

[Breanna]

This is something I started "focusing" on way too late in the game. For a long time (embarassingly enough) I never even thought to zoom in and make sure everything was focused. It makes a big difference and it saves an embarassing conversation with a client later.

[Allison]

I bet the kid's hands are in focus in the right one. Might make for an interesting crop...

[Jenny Widmaier]

I do this too! Such a great tip! Would love to know your settings for this shot...ISO, shutter, etc. Thanks always for the GREAT tips!

[Jeannie]

Did you just change the focal point to get the photo on the left? Or what did you do to get the crisper one?

[Jessica]

Yep, for the first one I probably had the bottom left focus point selected because it looks like I got the hand in focus. Then I rolled it to get the upper left which is where the baby's eye was. I ALWAYS set the focus on the eyes unless I'm doing some artsy focus. As my husband will say "that's not artsy, that's out of focus". ha ha ha

I did just have a twitter discussion earlier about this with some other photographers. There are A LOT of aspiring pros that do not have their focus down. I see it all the time on blog posts from other photographers where I can see that the pictures are soft. You may get away with it when you are showing web sized images but it will really hurt you when you start having big prints. ALWAYS CHECK IT AT 100% because if you don't and show the client, that will be THE ONE that they want blown up and then you have to have that hard talk with them. Just don't show it if you have any doubt about it being enlarged.

And finally, if you are going to be shooting wide open (1.8 for example) then please please please learn to change your focus point in camera on the fly or at the very least center focus and recompose (if your lens will allow you to). If you leave it on full auto (where all the focus points are lit up and the camera chooses the best one) you will will will miss your focus much more frequently. With that narrow a depth of field, you cannot have the focus hit the nose or the front arm (which is what the camera will want to do) and still have the eyes in sharp focus. It takes a little practice but is so worth it. I change mine now without even thinking about it. Stepping off the soapbox now. :)

[Jessica Grieves]

This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.