In Lesson 1 we talked about composition, or what you will be photographing and how it will be placed in your image. Obviously that is one of the most important elements of a good photo, however FOCUS is just as important, if not more. It doesn’t really matter what you are photographing if it’s blurry or if your focus falls on something in the photo other than what you want to be the center of attention. Focus is something that cannot be fixed in editing.

“Phone”tography

Even if you have a big fancy camera, truthfully most of us take the majority of our photos with our phones so I thought I would quickly touch on the focus feature on your phone has that you might not be taking advantage of.

I have an iPhone so the above image shows what it looks like when I take a photo. I’m in portrait mode here which mimics the blurred background you can achieve with your camera. You can click on the little “f” in the upper right corner to change your aperture or “f-stop” (read about aperture below- even if you only use your phone for photography). The yellow box on the screen shows where the focus in this image is landing. You can tap anywhere on the screen to adjust what you want to be in focus. On an iPhone you can also hold this box down to lock the image in focus. It will then display AE/AF lock on the screen. This means that you can now move your phone around to change your composition and your camera will remember what item to keep in focus. The AE stands for Auto Exposure which is sets the aperture and shutter speed for your image and will also be locked. Although it’s not related to focus, another handy feature you might not be using is the little sunshine you see to the right of the focus box. This is the exposure adjustment. Sliding this up or down with your finger brightens or darkens your image. Androids vary in how to use these features but a quick google search will result in instructions for your specific phone.

Focus in Auto Mode

Now it’s time to pull out your camera. We are going to start in full Auto Mode. On a Nikon, this says “Auto” in green with a picture of a camera on your dial. On Canon it is an “A+” in a box in green (I have found Canon enjoys naming thing with not-so-obvious names). This mode let’s your camera do all of the thinking and decision making including the object(s) in focus. When you look through your viewfinder and press your shutter button halfway down, your camera will find the objects to focus on. As you move your camera around a scene and press the shutter halfway down again it will find new objects to focus on. You can tell what the camera is focusing on by a box (or boxes-depending on your camera) that appears in the viewfinder on the object(s) you are focusing on (see photo above). This can come in handy when it is obvious what your subject is and you don’t need to make any adjustments to add artistic elements or adjust settings for action, etc. however it can be limiting if you are trying to focus on an object in a scene other than what the camera finds to be the most obvious subject or if you are wanting to change your depth of field to blur the background more or make your subject stand out.

Aperture Priority Mode (AP/AV)

We are going to take our first baby step out of full Auto Mode and dip our toes into choosing some of our own settings and setting focus on our own in Aperture Priority Mode. In Aperture Priority Mode (AP on Nikon dial and AV on Canon because again, they like to be different) you will choose the aperture setting and ISO. What are those? Well, now seems like the perfect time for you to meet my friend, the exposure triangle:

Aperture

Aperture affects the Depth of Field of an image by restricting light. When you adjust your aperture you are adjusting the amount of light you let into the camera lens. An F-stop is the size of the opening in the camera lens. A smaller number means a larger opening and more light coming in. This will result in your subject being in focus but the background being blurry. That blur is also known as “bokeh“. A larger number means less light being let in and more of your image being in focus. Smaller f-stops (or more open) can be used for a single person or object or for shooting a large scene but wanting to single out one object. A larger f-stop (or narrow opening) is best for landscapes or large groups of people where you want to make sure everything is in focus.

To adjust the aperture on your Nikon press the +/- button and then turn the dial to adjust. On Canon it is and asterisk button and then turn the dial. Your f-stop choices will depend on your lens, not your camera so you will notice your options will change as you change lenses. This will be something to consider when you are deciding which lens to use for a particular shot.

ISO

ISO is how sensitive the image sensor is to light. Higher ISO = more sensitive to light (brighter image). What does this have to do with focus and aperture? Well, nothing directly. But remember how we discussed that a smaller f-stop or aperture resulted in letting more light in and a larger f-stop resulted in less light? What if you want to take a photo of a large crowd (so you need a higher f-stop number) but you are in a low light area (and you don’t want to use a flash)? You can simply adjust your ISO to make your sensor more sensitive to light. In good light your ISO can typically be set at 100 but you are going to have to pay attention to your shutter speed on this as well. Your shutter speed will show in the lower left corner when you look through your viewfinder. While in AP/AV mode your camera will choose this setting for you depending on what ISO and aperture you select. While we won’t go into shutter speed a lot until the next lesson, for now it’s important to know that if this number goes below 100 your image might not be sharp due to motion blur (either your subject or any slight movement of the camera). If you notice this, increase your ISO and/or lower your f-stop (aperture). Remember that exposure triangle above? ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed all affect each other. Another thing to note is that a higher ISO will make your image grainier or add “noise” to the photo. The highest ISO setting you have will depend on your camera as will how well your camera handles high ISOs before the image is too grainy or noisy. On both Canon and Nikon models the ISO button is labeled “ISO”.

Focus

Once you leave full auto mode, you will now be able to choose your own focal points. When you look through the viewfinder your camera will no longer search for and decide which object to focus on. Instead you will see a pattern of tiny squares or focal points. You can choose which focal point you would like to use instead of the camera choosing for you. Although this is good news because now you can try your hand at some more creative shots, you will also quickly realize it is your responsibility to make sure that focal point is exactly where you want it before you press that shutter all the way down. The wider your aperture (or the lower the f-stop) the smaller the area in focus will be which means you will have to be very precise when placing your focal point. Again, how many focal points you have will depend on your camera. My first DSLR, a Canon Rebel XT had a whopping 9. My next camera, the Canon 7D which I now use as my back-up camera has 19. My 5D MKIII has 61! Guess what, they all worked fine. Having more focal points just gives you a few more options in the way you set up your composition as you can place your subject at any one of the points in your frame.

To select your focal points on a Nikon I believe you press the arrows in the circle around the “ok” button (Nikon people…correct me if I’m wrong). On a Canon, you press the button marked with this square and then either turn the dial on top or toggle to select your focal point. Interestingly, I realized I use the dial to move right and left and the toggle to move up and down.

Homework

(These exercises will be best for learning purposes in decent daylight hours)

• Choose a subject and with your camera in full auto mode take a few shots while paying attention to the focal points and making sure your image is in focus.
• Move your camera mode to AP/AV (Aperture Priority Mode). Practice setting your focal point on your subject. Take several shots using different focal points. Try some using the “Rule of Thirds” and also centering your subject. Write down your settings (or note that you can see them by pressing the “info” button on your camera).
• Change your aperture. Take a few shots with a wide aperture (low f-stop number) and some with a higher f-stop.
• Share your images, ask questions, and mark your “unit” as completed on the facebook group. (If you aren’t a member yet, click the button and join!).

Don’t be shy about sharing photos on the Facebook group…that’s the best place to learn and we can ALL learn from each other! Share your best photos but also the ones that didn’t turn out the way you planned or that you don’t know why they turned out the way they did. Also share your settings with the photos!