Where to focus

[aprilfool]

hi everybody

While taking closeups or portraits on which part of the face do you focus to avoid the back focus on the other parts.

Asim.

[stubbsy]

aprilfool

The most important part to focus on is the eye since that's where us human beings always look first when we see a face be it in person or in a photo.

[aprilfool]

aprilfool

The most important part to focus on is the eye since that's where us human beings always look first when we see a face be it in person or in a photo.

I totaly agree with you but when the subject is not looking straight or the two eyes are not on the same plan and you want to take a photo with lower field of depth there is always one eye which has back focus.

[christiand]

focussing technique ?:

when focussing on the eyes or one eye do you manually focus ?
Do you use single focus, pointing the D70 focussing sensor at the eye, pressing the shutter button half way and then aligning the D70 for taking the photo ?

Thanks
CD

[aprilfool]

No i normaly do it on one eye and then adjust my D70 according to the subject.

[nodabs]

always on thye leading eye if the leading eye is in focus you will have a decent pic (with composition and light obviously)

[W00DY]

hi everybody

While taking closeups or portraits on which part of the face do you focus to avoid the back focus on the other parts.

Asim.

I could be way off track here but would you not need to increase the depth of field?

You should be able to set the F-Stop accordingly so that the face (or subject) is in focus but the background is still blurred.

Correct me if I misunderstood the question.

W00DY

[Neeper]

Well, my answer would be, what do you want the viewer to concentrate on the most? Do you want to accentuate the lips? The nose?? Focus on that. If it's the person, it would definitely be eyes.

[lowster]

Hi,

Dug up this old topic on focusing because I recently went to watsons bay to take some portrait shots and want some pointers on the best way to use focus. I used the single AF area mode to select one of the 5 focus areas and placed that around the person's eyes. However, i often wanted to frame the photo so that the person was not in one of those focus areas. How would this best be done? I tried a few shots by doing the above, then switching to manual focus to correctly frame the shot. I was also tempted to use portrait mode (closest subject focus) but wanted to have control over aperture.

Thanks,
Danny

[MattC]

Lowster,

Focus by half pressing shutter release, recompose and shoot. I only ever use the central AF point, so tend to use this method all of the time.

Cheers

[sirhc55]

You can focus lock with the shutter button half depressed and then reframe still holding the button half depressed - see page 70/71 of the instruction manual

[lowster]

Gotcha...sorry, don't know how i missed reading it in the manual!!...Thanks again.