the subject & focusing question about the basics

[kgreen]

hi all! i love taking photo's but i'm interested in learning the basics of how to take really good photo's. much of what i have learned is from reading on the internet, & trying to use what i learn when i take pictures. i don't really understand how to focus on the subject?? before i snap the shot there is a bracket in the middle of the screen, so i have been using that as to focus on the subject?? but if the subject is not in the middle & i want to get a bigger picture i move the camera to the subject half click readjust the camera & the click?? i think i'm doing it all wrong, can some one please explain to me what i need to do. in the photo below, i zoomed in & the plant is very sharp & clear while the background is blurred. i like it but i'm not sure how i did it. the butterfly was allready gone the second i took the photo, so i think it was moving in the photo.. is that why it's not as sharp as the plant or did i just focus more on the plant?? i'm so confused, i'm not sure how to focus..

 

[photo_chick]

What kind of camera are you using?

With a DSLR you look through the view finder and use the focal points, those little rectangles, to choose where the camera will auto focus. You can move them around and manually pick which one you want if you need to. Your manual will tell you how to do that.

With a point and shoot you sometimes don't have a choice and you have to focus then recompose to focus on a subject that is not dead center in the frame. That is you do the half way press the button down with the subject in the center, then carefully shift the framing to put the subject where you want it... all without moving the camera enough to change the plane of focus.

A few point and shoots will let you tap the LCD screen and put the focus right where you want it. My phone is actually like this.

Now having part of the picture in focus and part out of focus is depth of field, and that's a whole other subject. You use aperture, focal length and distance to subject to control depth of field.

 

[SrisonS]

It kinda seems like you already have the technique down. It's not really too complicated to understand though. For the most part, whatever you lock focus on will be sharp, with everything else blurred (there's more to it than that, but that's basically what's going on). And moving subjects can be tough to get sharp sometimes. So yes, that's why the butterfly might be a little out of focus.

And not sure what camera you have, but I remember my old Canon S3 IS used a bracket to focus on subjects. It can be difficult sometimes to focus on a very specific spot, using that bracket. So don't be discouraged that you may be doing something wrong there.

 

[kgreen]

sorry i should have mentioned my camera. i have an olympus c-5060 wide zoom. i have been going through the manual & menus, i can't seem to move the af target mark manually, so i guess i'll have to place the mark over the subject half click then readjust. if i don't half click & just point & shoot then will the middle of the photo where the af target mark is be what the camera focuses on?? i have the option to turn on or off -af illuminator & full time AF, & af mode-iESP, SPOT. and metering-ESP, SPOT-metering, multi-metering, & center-weighted metering.. i don't know what mode to set these on??

 

[mom2rtk]

Great shot!

The blur on the butterfly does appear to be motion blur. It looks a little overcast that day, so maybe the shutter speed was too slow for a moving object. It is entirely possible that you can get the focus just right, but still get some blur if the shutter speed is too slow.

Do you know what your shutter speed was on this shot?

 

[mom2rtk]

Great shot!

The blur on the butterfly does appear to be motion blur. It looks a little overcast that day, so maybe the shutter speed was too slow for a moving object. It is entirely possible that you can get the focus just right, but still get some blur if the shutter speed is too slow.

Do you know what your shutter speed was on this shot?