Creakj

I read all the books, practice, know my camera, etc. but I still have problems with focus, focus, focus!! Help you wonderful pros help me out with some suggestions? Thank you. I am using Canon 50D with 23-70 lens.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

it would be helpful were you to actually focus on a question first

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

Others will have a lot better advice than mine but since I am here -- As I see it the hair shows to be well focused so not a camera/lens problem. I am assuming that you think the eye/face could be better focused. If so, either use point auto-focus on the eye and recompose or manually focus on the eye. If you want greater depth of field in focus, use a smaller aperture. I think you might be getting a little flair so watch you lighting.

rocar7 Loc: Alton, England

The rule (one of them anyway) with portraits is to focus on the eyes in a full-face portrait like yours. For a portrait where the sitter's head is turned slightly, focus on the nearest eye. If you do that, the rest will take care of itself.

It's difficult to tell because of the small size of the pics, but in the first example it looks like the plane of focus is slightly further back than the eyes. The second example is better. If you are using auto-focus, then select the single focus point that falls on the eye. Preferably use a tripod and a fast shutter speed/large aperture combination (for out-of-focus backgrounds). This should give you the result you want. Take your time and take plenty of shots - one of them will be perfect!

70mm on a 1.6 crop camera is a 112mm equivalent - perfect for head and shoulders shots. Setting the zoom to a little above 30mm will give you the equivalent of 50mm - good for full-length portraits. Too long a lens will flatten the features and will not look quite right. In the old days of full-frame film cameras a telephoto lens of 135mm was what everybody had for portraits.

photoninja1 Loc: Tampa Florida

Both pics have areas of sharp focus so focusing isn't the problem. If you want more edge-to-edge sharpness in your photo then shoot at around f 11 and back away from your subject a little. Both solutions will increase the DOF and tend to solve your problem

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

are you using auto focus? I'm wondering if that may be off a little. Someone posted a nice easy way to fix that a while back. If you are manually focusing, it may be "old eyes" like mine, and you may need to think about a Katz eye split focusing system. I'm saving up for one now.

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

Use the centre spot setting for your camera's focusing, not the multi zone system. Then focus that spot on the subject's eyes and hold the focus and then recompose to get the shot and follow through with the shutter button. be sure you have a fast enough shutter speed for the lens and light you are using, if not on a tripod. that is all you need to do.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

I would suggest f11 or higher and ISO 200. Use a lens that is no more than 100mm and fill the frame by stepping back from your subject. Get a good tutorial on f stops. Most focus problems can be solved with an understanding of f stops.

prestonphoto Loc: Bath, NY

hhhmmmm - maybe the sun giving you a little misreading. 2nd photo came better and as mentioned, focus on the eyes. But I think the sun may be throwing you off a little bit.

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

I can't see how the sun would have anything to do with a focusing problem. Could you explain that? I've never owned a camera that relied upon sun for focusing correclty, it has always been down to me, the camera operator. What would happen when there is no direct sun or indoors?

I think you will find the problem here lies with the photographer and how the camera has been set up or is being used.

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

* * * *
The question was asking for help with focus. At least some people gave real answers. "Once upon a time" none of us understood metering or depth of field,so why not help when help is asked for?

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

to me "focus" starts with the mind - then the lens follows. This might seem off base at first but maybe with a second thought one could start to see that when the mind is not clear - focused - such that one can only ask a vague, general question - then its not so far a jump to link unfocused mind and unfocused lens together.......
:)

ole sarg Loc: south florida

I would urge those having trouble with focus to review the following site:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

In days of yore one would get a light meter reading and set up the camera deciding on the f stop to use. Wanted great depth of field or lots in focus from foreground to infinity one used say an f16 or f22, or shallow depth of field anything below f4. The old cameras had a depth of field ring and you could turn the ring and shut the shutter down by hand and see what was in focus at various f stops and then set the camera speed according to the light meter. Lots of work to get just one shot. Then came the internal light meter and one basically used shutter priority after selecting speed.

Now the cameras are automatic and most let the camera decide what to do. Most get great shots with automatic but once one decides that one wants a special effect one has to understand f stop, speed, ISO, and manual focus to get the desired effect.

The solution to all this is to ask questions of UHH and to ask them on the web and use tutorials that explain things. After the tutorial those with experience can clarify or suggest how to set up the camera to get what one wants.

Hope this helps.

prestonphoto Loc: Bath, NY

Look at how the sun glares off the woman. It might not show when just looking at her but through a camera the lens picks the bright spots - hence - the sun on her. The camera never relies on the sun for focusing, it just picks up the brightness from it more and may throw the camera readings off some making you think all is well when it's not. And with no direct sun or indoors - simple - no glaring is there?

prestonphoto Loc: Bath, NY

By the way - the whiteness scale could go from -0+ to maybe -1 to eliminate the sun brightness on her.