Focus and Aperture Choice

A couple of recent photos reveal two focus and aperture choice pitfalls:

Looking closely at these two pictures, there are problems with focus and depth of field.

Autumn Colours

This picture was taken at 1/80, ISO 100 and f11. The trees closest to the camera are not as sharp as they should be. Two ideas for improvement:

1. Smaller aperture: f16 in this case
2. Better focusing:
   • On the yellow-leafed trees
   • At the hyperfocal distance/one-third of the way into the scene

Belfast Street

This picture was taken at 1/2000, ISO 200 and f2.8. These are completely the wrong settings, presumably left over from the previous picture.

It looks as though the focal plane is at least half way into the image, but because the depth of field is so shallow at this aperture setting, the woman and the car number plates in the foreground are definitely out of focus.

Two ideas for improvement:

1. Actually focus on the subject – the woman crossing the street
2. Decide how important the background is, and choose the aperture value accordingly

In this case, the background is really important because it provides context. So a much smaller aperture value would make it sharp enough to play its role properly.

Lesson Learned

1. Choose the subject and focus on it
2. Make sure the aperture value is correct for image we’re trying to create

To Do

1. Practice landscape focussing