TechniqueLesson 3 of 8 · 20 min · 5 reading, 15 doing
The short version
Left alone, the camera chooses what to focus on, usually the nearest thing or a face. Switch to a single focus point and put it on your subject yourself.
What a focus point is
A focus point is the small box on the screen or in the viewfinder that shows where the camera will focus. Focusing makes one distance sharp. Things nearer or further away get softer, and how much softer depends on the aperture, which you'll control in Module 6.
So the question before every photo is simple: what should be sharpest? A face, an eye, the front of a flower, a sign. Wherever the focus point sits, that's what you get.
The amber box is the focus point. Same scene, same camera: the only change is where the point sits.
Two ways a camera chooses
Automatic area. The camera looks across the whole frame and picks for you. It often goes for the nearest thing, the brightest edge, or a face or eye if it finds one. This is how most cameras behave in full Auto, and it's often the default in P too. Names include Wide, Whole area and Auto-area.
Single point. One small box that stays exactly where you put it. The name varies: on Canon, for example, it's 1-point AF; on Nikon, Single-point AF; on Sony, Spot or Flexible Spot. Look in the focus menu or the quick menu for "AF area" or "Focus area".
Automatic area is fine when there's one obvious subject close to you. Single point is what you want whenever the camera keeps picking the wrong thing.
Moving the point
Once you're in single point, move the box with whichever of these your camera has:
A small joystick on the back, under your thumb.
The arrow pad (up, down, left, right). On some cameras you press a button first so the arrows move the point instead of opening other settings.
The touchscreen: tap where you want it. Some cameras let you drag it with your thumb while your eye is at the viewfinder.
On many cameras, pressing the joystick in, or pressing OK, sends the point back to the centre. Check what yours does.
12
Back of a Nikon mirrorless camera. 1 joystick · 2 arrow pad with OK in the centre. Either one can move the focus point.
On a phone, the focus point goes wherever you tap the screen.
Faces and eyes
Many cameras and nearly all phones find faces, and many find eyes, of people and often of animals too. A box or bracket appears around the face or eye it has found. This is excellent when it picks the right person. When it picks the wrong one, tap the face you want, or switch to single point and put the box on that eye yourself.
Where to put it
People and animals: on the eye nearest to you. If the eyes are sharp, the photo looks sharp.
Objects: on an edge, a letter or a texture. The camera needs contrast to grip.
Wide views: on something about a third of the way into the scene, such as a rock or a tree. Module 11 explains why.
The sharp face sits between two blurred heads. Left to choose, a camera often focuses on the nearest thing instead.
Twigs in front of a bird are a classic trap. A single point on the eye, clear of the twigs, gives the camera no choice.
Finn's tip
Leave the focus point in the centre when you're not using it. Then it's always in a sensible place when something happens fast.
Where this goes wrong
The point gets nudged by your nose or thumb and sits in a corner. Glance at it before you shoot.
The point lands on a plain patch, like a cheek or a sky. Move it to an eye or an edge.
Full Auto overrides your choice. Use P, where your focus settings stay put.
Quick checkYou photograph a bird in a bush. The twig in front is pin sharp and the bird is soft. What do you change?
Switch to a single focus point and put it on the bird's eye, in a gap where no twig crosses the box. The camera focused on the nearest thing because it was choosing for you.
Try it now · 15 minutes
Find your camera's focus area setting and choose single point. Write its name on the Field Card.
Move the point to each corner and back to the centre, with the joystick, arrow pad or touchscreen.
Stand a toy or mug a metre in front of you, with a bookcase or plant further back. Photograph it twice: once with the point on the mug, once on the background.
Zoom in on both photos. The part under the point should be sharpest each time.
Phone users: do step 3 by tapping first on the mug, then on the background.
