What Focus Points Do You Use?

Ok, that is not exactly a frequently asked question, as I claim, but…well…it should be! There are way too many accidentally out of focus pictures out there. Out of focus can be cool, sure, but only if it is on purpose. Some of the great photographers had out of focus shots, but that was for very different reasons.

The basic problem is that most cameras are set, by default, to a multiple focus point setting, meaning, a pathetic, little computer in your camera is deciding what in the scene needs to be in focus. I personally think my brain is a bit more sophisticated than my camera, and I would much rather choose for myself what is in focus. So, here is how I do that.

The vast majority of the time, I am set to a single, center focus point. I focus on the thing I want in focus, maybe the eyes if it is portrait or maybe on the point of action, then I keep that focus locked in and reframe the photo how I want it. You know that trick: half press to lock the focus, reframe, then full press when the framing and the moment is right.

I am always on a single point of focus, but not always in the center (though usually). There are a couple reasons I would move out of the center.

Cruising the neighborhood with the neighbors dog.
Cruising the neighborhood with the neighbor's dog.

Situation one. Just the other day, I was shooting a shot of a kid riding down the street on his bicycle. Now, you have to picture in your head what you want before you know where to move the focus point. I wanted a vertical shot, with him on the left side, riding toward the right. So, I moved the focus point to the left side, where he would be. I also had to set the camera to continual-servo focus (meaning the camera continually adjusts the focus instead of single-servo where it focuses once and holds that focus). Then, I just kept that selected focus point on him (on the left side of the frame) and let the camera keep that left focus point in focus till I had the framing I wanted.

Situation two, the other reason (I can think of) that you might want to change your focus point off-center. If you are shooting with a very open aperture, you will have a very shallow depth-of-field, right? Well, sometimes, that depth of field can be so selective that focusing in the middle then reframing the subject to the edges of the photo will be enough to actually throw the focus off. This honestly is not that big of a problem, but the more open your aperture, the closer you are to the subject, and the longer your lens, the more this problem grows. So, focusing on an outer focus point, closer to where you want to frame the subject, will ensure a sharper focus where you want it.

“Why,” you might ask, “are cameras set to multiple focus points, then, and what is the use of multiple points?” Well, my guess is that they are set to multiple by default becase, statistically, more shots will be in focus with multiple points (I think the camera just chooses the closest object) then if it was locked to the center. So, from the camera manufacturers’ point of view, that is fewer people thinking, “this camera stinks…it never focuses right.”

And the use of multiple points? Well, if you are a hot, shot sports shooter (or maybe wildlife?), this can come in handy, but even then, cameras have many variations of focusing with all those points to use for different purposes. I find it interesting that the new Nikons have 52 focus points! Yikes. I would feel so old school setting my camera to one itsy, bitsy focus point in the center…but I probably still would.

Next time you see a pro shooting, though, just watch. You will probably see the focus, reframe, and shoot movement, meaning, they are using a single focus point (or in the case of the new Nikons, maybe a small cluster of points), and then framing the photo how they want. That does not fit every single situation out there, but it certainly seems to be the norm.

Cooper Strange Written by: