I’m sure we’ve all experienced focusing problems.
You know – you have an otherwise pretty good shot, but the subject is just ever so slightly out of focus.
And the toughest part is that you often don’t notice the focus problem until you’re back home, checking your photos out on your computer screen!
No amount of sharpening in Photoshop is going to save an out-of-focus photo, either. That means it’s imperative to get it right in-camera.
The question is, what are the best ways of getting tack-sharp photos?
We provide the answer to that very question in this post.Single Shot Autofocus vs Continuous Autofocus
Single shot autofocus is typically the default setting on most cameras and is the most common way to focus for most shots.
It gets its name because the camera focuses and maintains that focus for one shot, which is how most of us shoot most of the time for things like portraits, landscapes, and other still subjects.
Using single shot autofocus is extremely easy, too.
Just depress the shutter button halfway, which instructs the camera to focus.
The camera will maintain focus on the subject until you either take the shot by pressing the shutter button all the way or you release the shutter button altogether.
The problem, of course, is that to lock that focus, you must keep the shutter button depressed halfway, and that can be tricky at first.
You’ll likely end up with a few “oops” shots from accidentally pressing the shutter button all the way. Likewise, you’ll probably find that you accidentally release it sometimes, too, meaning you have to start the process over again.
But, once you get the hang of it, you can use single shot autofocus to acquire focus on your subject (say, the eyes of a person in a portrait), lock that focus, and recompose the shot.
For example, in a portrait, your initial framing might have the model in the middle of the shot while you’re locking focus on their eyes.
But once you depress the shutter button halfway, you can then recompose the photo for a more pleasing look, but still maintain focus on the original target. This is called the focus and recompose technique, and you can see it in action in the video above by Matt Granger.
Cool huh?!
So what happens if you’re photographing a subject that isn’t stationary?
That’s when you need to switch to continuous autofocus.
As the name states, continuous autofocus continually adjusts its focus to maintain a sharp subject.
Whether it’s your kids playing soccer, your dog running after a ball or a bicyclist riding by, continuous autofocus is the mode to use for a sharp photo.
Similar to single shot autofocus, you simply bring the camera to your eye and depress the shutter button halfway to acquire focus.
The difference is that since the subject is on the move, you need to track the subject to keep it in the frame.
What’s more, with the shutter button depressed halfway, the camera will continue to adjust the focus as the subject is moving around.
For example, if you’re photographing your child riding their bike, you would frame the shot as they start out, depress the shutter halfway, and so long as you keep your child within the frame of the shot, the camera will adjust the focus as they get nearer or further away.
There is one caveat, though.
Sometimes it’s advantageous to select which autofocus point the camera uses to determine focus. This is especially true when using continuous autofocus.
Letting the camera do it itself (a process called automatic focus point selection) works fine in most situations, plus it’s quick, so when time is of the essence, automatic is the way to go.
But the camera typically tries to focus on the nearest object in the shot for focusing, so if there’s foreground elements in the way, you might end up with a sharp foreground and a blurry subject.
You can get around this by manually selecting the autofocus point, which is discussed in the next section.
Manual Autofocus Point Selection
As noted above, manually selecting the autofocus point that’s used for acquiring focus is ideal for situations in which you need even more control over focusing the shot.
This typically occurs in situations in which the subject is moving, when you’re working on a macro shot, and even for landscapes, in which you might be shooting through something (i.e. foreground grasses) that you want blurred.
Though the process for selecting which autofocus point is active varies from one camera to the next, typically there’s an AF button on the back of cameras that allows you to access the selection menu.
From there, simply use the arrow buttons on the back of your camera to select the point you’d like to use.
Then all you do is frame up the shot, ensure the active autofocus point is over your subject, and press the shutter button!