Portrait focus point

a quick question about focusing where do focus your focus point when taking a picture of a person?

well so far I point my camera focus at their eyes and some articles says don't focus to their eyes so now I'm a little confused where to point my focus point.

Always focus on the eyes! If you have extremely shallow depth of field, focus on the eye that is closest to you.

I would be interested in seeing a link to an article that says different. The saying that "eyes are the windows to the soul" holds true in photography.

oh thanks I will review my bookmarks and I will post the article.

also how about when taking a picture of an object like a pool balls or a teddy bear? where do you point the focus point?

corei5 said:

oh thanks I will review my bookmarks and I will post the article.

also how about when taking a picture of an object like a pool balls or a teddy bear? where do you point the focus point?

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What is the object of interest in the photo? Focus on that. It is often useful to focus on the subject centered and then recompose (change the framing).

For a teddy bear I would still hit the eyes. For a pool. I would look at where the eyes were going to land and focus there. For the pool shot, you might well need a very small aperture (large f-stop value) so you get sufficent DOF.
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See my plan (in my profile) for what I shoot with. See my gallery for images I find amusing.

about the recomposing the focus point need to be locked first, right? but when the focus point is already locked where do you usually point the focus when shooting a portrait of a person?

also the camera must set in Aperture Mode, right? regarding to this the EV comp. is permanently set where ever you've set it, right? if so how are going to get the right exposure?

forgot to mention what do you mean by the large aperture? the smallest number? like 1.8?

corei5 said:

about the recomposing the focus point need to be locked first, right? but when the focus point is already locked where do you usually point the focus when shooting a portrait of a person?

also the camera must set in Aperture Mode, right? regarding to this the EV comp. is permanently set where ever you've set it, right? if so how are going to get the right exposure?

forgot to mention what do you mean by the large aperture? the smallest number? like 1.8?

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I did not say large aperture, I said small. It is confusing, but a large aperture means a small f-stop value, while a small aperture means a large f-stop value.

I used aperture since that large/small matches the size of the "iris-valve" in the lens. I was suggesting that for the pool shot you might benifit from more of the scene being in focus (larger focus plane).

I usually shoot in manual mode, focus (but with AF) and tap the lens MF button. There are several ways to do it. The exact mechanics might very a little from camera to camera. You can also shoot a little wider than you want and crop to get the desired framing.

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See my plan (in my profile) for what I shoot with. See my gallery for images I find amusing.

I've wondered the same thing regarding the focus points.

Several people make the suggestion of locking the focus and recomposing, but in a shot where you want to see the background, would it be the same to use one of the outer focus points and frame the shot with the person on the side?

If you use wide apertures ( small f numbers ) I don't recommend focus-and-recompose. The problem is depth of field can be too small to keep what you took focus on in-focus when you shift view.

I'd suggest using manual focus or select a focus point for AF. People do seem reluctant to use manual focus, although I'm not sure why.

Better to crop an in-focus photo to the desired framing afterwards than frame an out-of-focus shot correctly when shooting.

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StephenG

Pentax K100D
Fuji S3 Pro
Fuji S9600

anyhow when taking portrait specially outside the background should be blurred (DoF?)

oki ill make it easy for myself about the aperture let say the lowest number (1.8) the wider the "IRIS" is and the background will be blurry, the highest number (22) the "IRIS" will become small and the background/whole scene will be in focus.

so to make the whole scene in focus I need a high number (f/higher than 1.8 or so).

when cropping will you just use the crop tool and just crop the desired size or image that need to be cropped?

anyhow when taking portrait specially outside the background should be blurred (DoF?)

oki ill make it easy for myself about the aperture let say the lowest number (1.8) the wider the "IRIS" is and the background will be blurry, the highest number (22) the "IRIS" will become small and the background/whole scene will be in focus.

so to make the whole scene in focus I need a high number (f/higher than 1.8 or so).

when cropping will you just use the crop tool and just crop the desired size or image that need to be cropped?

bump?

corei5 said:

anyhow when taking portrait specially outside the background should be blurred

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Yeah... If you like. It is entirely up to you.

Lots of people use blur to smooth out an untidy background, but, if the background is NOT untidy, it doesn't matter. The sky makes a good featureless background.

In the studio professionals will use featureless background materials (say, seamless paper) to get a similar effect... That way they have a free choice of aperture.
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Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

corei5 said:

anyhow when taking portrait specially outside the background should be blurred (DoF?)

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Although people talk like there are, there are no rules in photography. There is no one correct way to take a photograph of a person. The subject doesn't have to be in focus. The subject doesn't have to be properly exposed. The composition does not have to adhere to the rule of thirds, and the horizon does not have to be straight.

HOWEVER if you want to make attractive, flattering photos of people, there is a fair bit of accumulated knowledge of how this can be done.

I suggest looking up famous portrait photographs, finding ones you like, then looking up the work of that photographer. Look at photographs you like a lot, and try to work out what has been done ie expression, lighting and composition.

corei5 said:

oki ill make it easy for myself about the aperture let say the lowest number (1.8) the wider the "IRIS" is and the background will be blurry, the highest number (22) the "IRIS" will become small and the background/whole scene will be in focus.

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What aperture to choose? Say, for example, you have a 50mm f/1.8 lens and an APS-C camera, say a canon 550D. If you want to isolate the subject sharp against a blurred background, a large aperture would be necessary. But at f/1.8, the lens is not particularly sharp, to get very high IQ at least f/2.8 is needed. On the other hand, the IQ at f/1.8 may be perfectly good for you, you have to take a lot of photos, and examine them critically, and work out for yourself what you like. With that same camera and lens above, if you wanted to have everything in focus from foreground to background, f8 or f11 would be appropriate. From f13 to f22 IQ declines fairly rapidly due to diffraction. Sometimes this is desirable in a shot where the context is important, eg most journalism, environmental portraiture etc. Look up famous portrait photos, and count how many were done with very shallow DOF. What is it that makes them great?

corei5 said:

when cropping will you just use the crop tool and just crop the desired size or image that need to be cropped?

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Try to shoot so you don't have to crop. Get closer, frame tighter.

--
All matter is energy condensed to a slower vibration,
And we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.
Death is an illusion,
Life is a dream,
And we are the imagination of ourselves.

thank you for all the replies.

@Nikt

I am using 550D your reply is very informative i will play with the settings again and I will post the image and I hope at some point i will get the right exposure and such.

Thank you all.