Professional Looking Pictures
Require Perfect Focus

Many beginning photographers think they have thieir shot in perfect focus. Only to find when they get even small pictures back they are "fuzzy" at best. What Happened? Amateur photographers are accustom to "close enough for government work". Pros will settle for nothing less than Perfect everytime they take a shot.

You're objective as a photographer should be to achieve a focus that will hold up even when substantually enlarged. There is no such thing as "good enough" if you want professional looking pictures. So you need to know you're camera's focusing system inside and out.

Focusing is Simple, Right!

But how is it actually accomplished? On a typical SLR, you can manually adjust the lens by turning the lens barrel to attain the sharpest image possible. Or if your camera has auto focus, a micro electric motor will move the lens barrel or internal optics until a sharp image is achieved.

Using a String?

In some of the best portrait studios in the country, a string is used. Yes, a string! A string with knots every 12 inches is attached to the camera. By stretching to the face of the subject, the photographer knows exactly how far the subject's face is from the lens.

Okay, the photographer has counted the knots and knows that the distance from the subject's face to the camera is six feet. Now what? Each lens has a distance scale inscribed on the barrel. Line up the known distance, six feet, with the center mark on the lens and the lens is in perfect focus for that distance. I really don't think you will be using this method unless you are interested in Professional Portrait Photography.

Using the distance scale by itself is not very convenient. You may not be able to easily measure the distance to your subject or your estimate of the distance may not be correct. Most of today's cameras provide an additional method that is quicker and more convenient.

Zone Method

I learned this method from my photography club adsivor in high school. It is usually used at sporting events when you will be shooting moving objects. You can pre-set your distance scale and stop down your lens to give you the largest margin of error. Stopping down simply means setting the f-stop or aperture to give you the largest depth of field possible for the light conditions and shutter speed you will be using.

Pre-set your distance scale to the distance you will be shooting. At a basketball game it may be 15 to 20 feet from the sideline. For a football game it may be 30 to 50 feet. Whenever your subject enters this area you are assured of a reasonably sharp image.

With today's sophisticated cameras and ranging systems you will probibly never have to use methods like these. But even the most technically advanced systems fail and having a knowledge of some of the "Old Ways" could save a once in a lifetime shot!

Getting the Sharpest Possible Image

Achieving the sharpest image possible is not difficult. It does take patience and attention to detail. Distance to your subject is critical! The closer you are to your subject, the more perfect the focus has to be.

Use a tripod and cable release whenever practical. Enable Mirror Lockup if you are taking an exposure slower than 1/30sec.

When using film, you had to wait until your prints or transparencies came back from the lab to find out if your images were keepers or destined for the circular file. You usually only got one chance at getting the shot. If you were visiting a foreign country, you may never visit that location again so you would take many pictures as insurance.

With a digital camera you never have to worry about how the picture will come out! You take the shot, look at the image on the LCD screen, zoom in to a critical area and decide if the focus is sharp enough, no not sharp enough, perfect! If the answer is yes you've got a keeper. If it's not, take the picture again.

Learn to be your own worst critic. I once read that Ansel Adams kept printing one of his photographs over and over until he got it exactly right. It only took 35 years!

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