How to Focus YOUR PHOTOS!
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- #Focus #Photography #Aperture
I get asked a lot how I focus my camera for my photos. In this video I explain my process, along with some of the mistakes I see beginners make with choosing apertures and making sure your photos are sharp.
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I agree with you, we, as a community have been pushed more and more towards numbers, have you got enough pixels in your camera? (20Mp? Is that ALL??) Is your DOF small enough (even when theres none to speak of! "M43 just cannot DO dof!") Is your dynamic range big enough? Have we got enough stabilisation in your camera ("only 3 stops? I dont get out of bed for less than 5 stops" ) how big is your iso range? ("Does your camera go up to 256,000 iso? No?? Oh you poor thing!") it just goes on and on, it's getting silly, all it is is just a device for selling more and more units! It wasnt long ago that the Canon 5D mkiii was THE benchmark for pro photographers, with a few more than 20Mp it would be laughed at these days!
We have, as an industry lost the artistry in our field, it has become black and white, if your background isn't pristine then you must be an amateur! We MUST MUST MUST move back towards theart of the photo, David Bailey, an icon in the field, in my experience was very rarely what the 'influencers' (God I hate that term!describe as technically correct, but oh my God did he turn out some iconic photos! We must relearn that
Diffraction - light trips up when it goes through a small hole a bit like a drunk in a doorway.
Love that! haha
Yep, it was me
Makes perfect sense
When I'm not sure and even sometimes when I'm sure what aperture works for the landscape shot, I take a few photos with different aperture values.
For example of that tree, you can just shoot f4, f5, f8, f11, f13, f22, etc. The tree won't run away and you can just delete the photos you don't like later. Or leave them and maybe you'll change your mind after some time. Digital storage these days is so cheap...
Sounds bulletproof sir :)
As for diffraction: the usual ray tracing diagrams you're used to seeing -- of lenses bringing rays of light down to a focus -- assume that they do so perfectly, so that every point in the scene is mapped to exactly one point in the image plane. That would be ideal, but in reality, light is an electromagnetic wave, which means that it doesn't exactly always propagate in perfectly straight lines the way the ray-tracing diagram suggests. Instead what happens is that light bends around barriers, the way water waves do when passing through an opening. Rays that were initially straight and parallel are instead now spreading out slightly. The upshot of this is that, because of the finite size of the circular aperture, instead of the lens focusing rays from a single point in a scene perfectly down to a single point on the sensor, it focuses them into a circular _area_ on the sensor. I.e. every point in your scene gets smeared out into a circular disc of non-zero size in your focal plane (called an Airy disc). The relationship between the amount of smearing (diffraction) and the size of the aperture is inverse: smaller apertures smear light out into a larger Airy disc**, while larger apertures smear light out into a smaller disc. That's why diffraction is more noticeable at high F-numbers: you've stopped the aperture down to a smaller physical size. Diffraction obviously degrades your resolution -- if every illuminated point in your scene is now a larger disc in your image, obviously these discs will all be overlapping each other, making it more difficult to distinguish two points (e.g. distant objects) as being separate from each other. But diffraction only degrades things noticably if the size of the Airy disc is larger than the size of your pixels. If the Airy disc is smaller than the pixel scale, then obviously the smearing due to diffraction does not matter, because the finite pixel scale is what's limiting the resolution in that case.
Thank you for confirming the need for cakes in my life, especially imperfect cakes.
haha, not all hero's wear capes...
I must say james, i LOVE your content! The fact that you put your true self and proccess out there instead of portraying to be another perfect landscape photographer is awesome and very relatable. Much love and blessings from New York City!!!
Thank you mate :)
Hello David, I can not believe you got distracted, you covered the wet feet, the cobwebs, the ill parking of your car, I think you were right on focus point. We even covered baking. Love it when you show your photographs as a point of reference. Thanks for another great video.
haha, thanks Roberto :)
I'm a teacher, and I wish I was half as entertaining as you when I don't know what I'm talking about.
So I don't worry about focus and eat a delicious cake instead. Thank you!
ceaabe That’s what I took from it, too.
Nailed it! :)
"...I could see the tree growing!"...ya made me laugh out loud. 🙃
One of the first images that I took when I got my first dslr, nothing is properly focused and the camera shake is horrible, but it still today gets people saying "I love that one". Now, every time I see it I love that one too..because it tells a story. It took me more than a year before I understood it
Thanks, James - taking photos of things in landscapes is an important distinction than being a landscape photographer - never really thought about that before, but that's exactly what I do and despite doing it for years, I'd never made that intellectual leap. I thank you.
Cheers mate :)
After watching this video I know three things for sure:
1. Your photos are getting more and more amazing
2. Cake, just because.
3. You are not Spider-Man ;)))
haha, thank you! Spider man I am not...
this makes me even more interested in the video before watching
I love your vids, they're mint!! The fact that you go into "ramble mode" all the time is one of the reasons. You come across as someone trying to explain to friend what's what. The info becomes more memorable...to me anyway. Some of the others (as good & helpful as they are) just feels like a teacher/student scenario. So thanks for all the advice in your videos so far, you've been a big help. Looking forward to more in the future
That's so great to hear, thank you :)
Love looking back at some of your older pics and learning new things about them!
Thanks for focus on focusing. Very practical video for me still working on a style for me you’re thoughts help immensely
Thanks Robert :)
I truly enjoy your videos. I’m at a point where I want my images to be more minimal & moody. I really appreciate your approach on focus, which is the opposite of the in vogue focus stacking.
Thanks :)
My day gets better every damn time you upload a video. Good stuff as usual
Great to hear, thanks for watching :)
One of my personal favourite series' of photos is 1/2 out of focus. It's of my puppy and consists of 4 images: In the first, she's looking down at her leash; in the second, she looks at the camera; the third, she's already closed half the distance, ears flopping in the air, out of focus; in the fourth and final image, the frame is 2/3 her face (mostly nose and one eye), completely out of focus. She ran too fast for my autofocus to track.
Yeah, they're technically flawed, but the story is adorable. I have yet to have someone comment "Oh, but they're out of focus", but get a lot of "oh my gosh, that's so adorable". I am thus far the only person to have criticized the focus.
Oftentimes, flaws are a key part of the story.
6:50 - I see that you're going for the surfer, but I love how the rock and the mountain behind it are basically the same shape.
I try to focus on the thing that caught my interest in the first place!
I have used FF and M43 and it’s nicer to have more things in focus at a lower aperture, than it is the tip of the nose in focus only. And you get more light in
So much better than all of those videos that talk about getting things "tack sharp" and bang on about focus stacking.
Thanks :)
It's much easier to learn photography when you've got a funny and cute person to learn it from. Great video James!
First time I visited England I went to a small village, by train... there are cobwebs everywhere in the countryside. Especially around trainstations... I have only visited London since.
horrible things! :)
I think that was one of your most delicious analogies! Thanks for that
Oh yes. All really good points there James. Lost count of the number of times landscape photographers ask me "where to focus"? And when told "on the subject" they look blank and scratch their heads. Kind of forces them to consider if the image actually even HAS a subject, or if it's just a "general scene" - in which case there better be something compelling about it: like light or contrast or mood or why bother!! 😊👍
Thanks mate, agreed :)
Love your videos, humor, and knowledge. Keep em comin!
Thanks mate :)
I just arrived at my hotel in Prague and am pausing video long enough to check for spiders! Ok, I’m back and in focus. This was loaded with information. Back to America on Wednesday to check out the tips.
haha! Have fun :)
James Popsys, god I love your humor and smarts about photography. Keep making great images, great content, and great laughs. #inspired
Thanks so much :)
What James is talking about when he mentions focusing in on a predictable point or area of focus beforehand is the technique people generally use with full manual focus. I know when I started actually learning (I started with 35 mm film but didn't really dive into it until I got a few medium format Mamiyas) it took me a bit to realize it's often much easier/smarter to focus on the ground to visually see stretch of the depth of field and position the subject within. If I was doing street photography or in other situations where that trick wouldn't work I just relied on the hyper-focal distance scale bit on the lenses mixed with zone focusing.
That said, I still use tricks like that today because I still use those Mamiya cameras. Even on my digital cameras I use mostly vintage glass that's all manual. To be honest using manual lenses on mirrorless with solid peaking is beyond easy. It's important to use peaking as a reference point to start from if possible though. Nothing against autofocus, I use it loads on my Nikon Z5 with the FtoZ adapter and my F lenses that have autofocus.
Story and composition is everything... or taste in the cake example. 😁
The cake analogy works perfectly! Thank you!
I am guilty of being obsessed with the settings, but I am trying to get out of it...
Great to hear Adhish :)
I am so glad I know what kind of photography I do now :D, I take pictures of things in landscapes!
Another great video. A sensible approach we all need to take. Well done, and thanks, James.
Thanks David :)
Good video. I learned to simply take a bunch of pictures of the subject at different focal lengths and apertures. Especially if the subject isn't moving or alive and won't get pissed at you for taking so long. Just take a bunch of photos and you will be surprised at which photo you will actually like out of the bunch.
Love that analogy. People usually get even more lost when I use analogies. But to their defence, it usually ends up something like... "If a dog... Said to an egg who just came home from the office..."
It's all about the composition and some good post
True Pablo! :)
Why am I only finding this guy now! Hilarious and informative
You should have focused more on the things that are important? ;)
Spot on. As a beginner for me it’s all about composition first. Give me interesting and imperfect any day over bog standard and technically flawless.
Cheers John, me too :)
Good analogy with the cake. Great video
Great video James. Would love to see a behind the scenes video of you taking a few photos and showing how you compose and set the camera up for each one and then the final edit of each photo
Got it Jonny :)
Thanks James . “We are all wonderful, beautiful wrecks. That's what connects us--that we're all broken, all beautifully imperfect.”
Cheers David! I know I am :)
Plot twist: James gets assassinated by a spider at home 😜
I'm on borrowed time...
2 big fans here inTaylor Tx. the trees changing colors and leaves falling - haha ha your right just take the dam picture. wedding cake - lol
One of my favourite photos I've taken in the last month was overexposed, not fully in focus, and pretty noisy.
My best photos have always occurred by being somewhere you don't need to be at the wrong time with an opportunistic shot that just 'lines up'.
I'm not a whizz and I constantly chase knowledge in terms of camera skill, it's just about connecting the dots in-between and seeing the world in a different way.
I've taken some photographs I'm proud of and I've consistently screwed up more times then I can count but I always manage to provide results, even if few.
Well said :)
Totally your best ramble yet James 👍😁 Did you know there was a spider sitting on your hat the whole time during this vid?!🕸️🕷️
The honestly is perfect! Finally somebody who said it
Cheers Erik :)
I just can't stop thinking of all the disappointed photogenic Spiders. Perhaps a video on getting images of spiders should be a future project. Therapeutic too!
just been going through your videos, they are bloody brilliant. I much appreciate them!
F8 and be there. There's a good reason. If you're really picky, and up close, F11. And SHOOT !!! Generally speaking just skip the 2 highest fstops on your lens (like 32 and 22...) and you don't need much concern yourself with the results of diffraction. easy peasy.
Big fan of f8 and be there :) Or f4 for me...
@@JamesPopsysPhoto If you'll bundle up your kit and send it to me for a few days, I'll confirm and prove that side-by-side with full frame. :P
Enjoyed the video, as always James. I have very similar viewpoints to you on almost everything ... photography, cakes, spiders, etc. With regard to focus, of course the subject should be in focus. As for everything else, I think that depends on the scene and the subject ... but as a sweeping generalisation I try to achieve "as close to being in focus as possible without distracting from the subject". Thanks again.
In photography, there are no rules of anything, its just all guides....if people like it, then they like it
Some people are obsessed and have no idea about photography. Composition was created to provide some kind of guideline as presentation and how something might look better; however like any artist you choose and express yourself. Who cares what other think. It's all about yourself and what you're looking for on that image. You either have a choice to take the photo as you like it.
Another great video. Keep well
That tree was amazing
Good sound advice with a sense of humour 😁👍
Thanks Dave :)
Thank you! Subscribed.
I always find your takes on conventional techniques (and/or breaking them) refreshing and oddly reassuring.....not sure if that's the right word for that, maybe I'm rambling as well. Love your channel. I've learned a ton from you and have been entertained while doing so. Keep up the good work
Thanks Gregory :)
100% agree. There's no need for absolute sharpness throughout an entire image in probably about 98% of the cases. People who worry about that are also the ones that are hard-core pixelpeepers that look at all their images at around 200% on their monitor all the time to decide which image is best.
Agreed :)
Always enjoy your videos, thanks David
This guy is awesome fr
Nice drone shots
Thanks :)
I also like it simple, just single point focus on the main subject and then setting the aperture to something that looks good. Experimenting a lot with shooting at f1.8 lately, you don‘t always need everything in focus!
PS.: If you ever make your way to Vienna, I‘d be happy to explain you the physics behind diffraction 😅
Thanks mate, hopefully one day :)
I’ve learned such a lot of useful things from you Mate , thanks a lot
It would be interesting if you and Nigel Danson make a video discussing this subject (including the use of tripod). 😆
You made me laugh. About two weeks ago, I finished work early and decided to go into the woods and find some compositions. Woodland photography is challenging for me, and I wanted to get out and give it a go. After the 5th spider web, with spider, on my legs in 5 minutes, I grabbed a stick and waved it up and down in front of me before I took each step. I easily caught over 100 webs in the 2 hours I was out. The photography lesson I took from the experience was "wait for snowfall."
haha!
THAT SURFING SHOT IS AN ABSOLUTE BANGERRRR
Thank you! :)
Monet's paintings weren't in focus. I think the digital age of cameras has us to worried about focus. I feel that digital is too sharp at times. Too much "focus" on megapixels and on dynamic range. We've forgotten that there's a subject in front of our lens, let's just "focus" on that, and not worry about the technical aspects.
Well said Charles :)
Very true. In the good old days, the main issue was film type. Nothing else.
@@crispin8888 Very true. I started shooting in the 70's. I was so happy shooting film. Actually getting back into it. Yes, still staying with digital, but leaving the tripod behind, auto ISO, leaving behind the stress of shooting at base ISO. We didn't have IBS in our cameras back then. Today's camera technology has allowed us to forget why we take photographs. It's about the subject in front of us. Not the megapixels, not the autofocus speed, nor the burst speed. It's subject, the story we're trying to convey, an emotion. We drive with fog on our windshield, yet we know where we're going. Leave the megapixels at home, embrace the emotion of the subject. Have fun, shoot at a high iso. I miss pushing Tri-X to 1600. Sorry for the ramble.
@@charlesdolan8194 Well the same for me. It was fun. And a 50mm 1.8 lens was good enough. 1/focal length was the 'understood' IBIS.
Yes, that's right. 1/focal length, split image focussing and it all worked.
Love your content, your dad Gerard Butler's stuff is pretty good too!
haha, I'll take that :)
Lol I can see the tree growing: brilliant
Thanks James another highly entertaining informative vid
I was waiting for “where should you focus? On the story”
It was Julia Child that said “a party without cake is just a meeting!”
At 65 and glasses, if something is in focus, that a miracle! But they does happen, and occasionally on the nominated subject. A new technique I tried while on a coach tour of the UK in July, was to shoot through the coach window while moving. I was surprised with the effect. The subject at 200 metres was in focus.. sort of, but the shrubbery close to the road was blurred. 📷
I understand focus stacking, but your eyes don’t see it that way. 😳.
Great point of view James, although lost focus on the subject matter a couple of times. Also don’t worry about your UK spiders... 🕸🕷. now Aussie spiders, they’re read spiders.😳👍🏻🍷❤️🇦🇺
*THIS* is a knoife!
So true! :)
Great drone footage of the inversion.
Thanks Wendy :)
Sorry James, the shot of cobwebs meant I struggled to focus on what you were saying.
I have wondered what car you have from previous videos, and was convinced it would be a Ford Focus...
And I’m all out of focus based jokes. I never said they’d be good.
Love where you went with this in terms of explaining how micro 4/3 is double that of full frame so you hang out at f4,0, I have a canon 50mm F1,4 lens which takes stunning photos but I never know where to stick the aperture to bring more into focus. I’m in London this weekend so will try hanging out around f4,0 and have a play with that!
Haha! Thanks mate :)
So a big ugly cake that is delicious is better than a pretty cake that is not delicious, spiders are going to kill you...... great now I want a big ugly delicious spider cake. Meanwhile I am still debating which aperture to use for a photo of my tree. I love your videos James keep it up.
Haha! Cheers Mark :)
you don't need to have everything in focus, just your subject
Well James, probably many will wonder about what you are saying, our world is made out of rules. However, although I like my cake in good shape, I fully agree to what you are saying and therefore I did enjoy this video. Would of enjoyed it more if you’d remained among the spiders but nobody is perfect.
Yeah, gotta share this with my photo group!
Thanks for the tips. Mega thanks for the many laughs especially the last 2 minutes hilarious. Are you also a comedian?
Typically, when I'm out with the 5Ds, I focus manually "just over there." If the camera is on a tripod (usually the case), and I am shooting at F8 (usually the case), and I am using my 24mm TS-E (usually the case), the ground at my feet is out of view, and what is in view will be sharp enough. If I am using an AF lens hand-held, still F8 (but wide open would have been fine for you hill), and focus on the hero.
it was very hard for me to focus on a single one-liner for this this very concise and fluid explanation about proper focus in photography...
haha!
You're very right on the matter that pics shouldn't be all in focus. There's this subreddit called r/EarthPorn that keeps popping up on my Reddit feed, and literally all I see are overly edited HDR landscape pictures with everything focus stacked along with some overly-brightened flowers in the foreground or some boring shrub taking 90% of the viewer's attention that really does not deliver anything in terms of story. It's gotten to the point where it's getting stale and drifting more towards the field of digital art than that of photography.
Excellent advice as always 👍💯 so true, so true
I love your facial expressions. Prime 👌🏾 Also really appreciate your videos!
Cheers Drew!
I will also leave immediately when there are cobwebs. Home I go.... Spiders are my only fear. Love your videos. Heide
There's a huge difference between people who take photos to take photos and those who wait until everything in the frame is by some imaginary book before taking a single photo and leaving.
I personally just try different things from different angle on different settings because I don't know what they do yet.
Lovely views from the Peak District at the beginning. Did you film this on your own with a camera drone?
yeah that was some really nice stuff...
Yep, the drone :)
He said " Literally see the tree growing!" Priceless
In the Peak District the spiders won't kill you. They lay their eggs into your wet shoes which burrow into your feet and cause bunions. This is true, I read it on the internet somewhere.
ahhhhhhhhh!!!!
good to listen to how other photographers work it : )
Thanks mate :)
I wish that in all your shots you would be able to have a little text somewhere with the metadata advising shutter speed, ISO, aperture, and focal lengh. The reason being is, that we amateurs are just way too obsessed with the technical aspect because we do not fully understand it yet. Every single time I see videos explaining aperture I wish they would just simply put the metadata next to shots and then explaining is all done.
So if we want delicious shots, we need to jump around with our camera and eat cakes. Got it! Thanks. :D
An interesting video and a point well taken about focus point. As you take photos of things in landscapes as opposed to the landscape itself, your approach makes perfect sense. In fact, Heaton has demonstrated that focusing to the distance will actually get almost the whole scene "acceptably" focused. There is a place for focus stacking, etc. But I agree, even a pure landscape needs a point of interest and that's the thing that needs to be in focus. What irks me is de-focused elements that shouldn't even be in the photo and lend nothing but distraction.
On other issues: I never had you marked as an arachnophobe; well, no one's perfect. Re the DOF difference from M43 to FF: isn't F/4 to F/8 two stops? If the crop factor is 2x, that's just one stop, so the respective DOF should be equivalent to F/5.6. Or am I wrong? Thanks & keep the content coming!
Cheers John! Agreed :) For the DOF differences, consult mmcalc.com :)
James : and literally i can see the tree growing lol
I agree but I also think there is a time for total sharpness front to back . It reminds me of what Joe Cornish said , he wants his photos to be like a window you think you could step through right into the scene . Hence if it didn't have front to back sharpness the eye would not slieve this so . I guess it's what you are going for your intentions that should determine your approach to focusing there is room for both views on it I say .
That's believe not slieve lol .
Makes sense Mark :)
love the tips. thanks James
Very good vid. So tired of seeing vids on fstops & Sspeeds. I tell newbies to concentrate on composition #1. Then worry about fstps & DOF. Sspeeds come next or thinking about movement & such. Take your cam out & set it on auto mode for a day. Concentrate on the compo!
P.s. I cannot accept all of your advice. I am diabetic. &,,,, the cake would never reach its destination!
haha! I do apologise mate :)
I'm so glad I subscribed to yout channel. I love it! :)
Thank you :)
Great video, great points. One thing... doesn't diffraction kick in sooner in the aperture range in case of smaller sensor cameras?