Focusing exercises for photography ?

A

aames

New member
Hi there...I started photographing about a month ago with a new DSLR I had for my birthday...
I have taken a few snaps here and there and by far the hardest thing to control ( especially with a narrow depth of field ) was a correct focusing..

So my question is...are there any good exercises I can use to improve focusing ?

Of course practice leads to perfection...but apart from that, is there any technique used in schools or suggested in books that can help me as well ?

thank you, Aames
p.s. sorry for my english
 
No problem your english is fine. What exactly is the problem you're having? What camera are you using? If you want the most precise focusing possible go into your cameras menu and select single point focusing so you can just pick one point to focus on with the control pad on the back of your camera. This way you can pick just one point of interest and the camera will focus on it. Like you said practice does make perfect so just keep on shooting! Good luck.
 
Depending on what you are photographing, you may need to adjust precisely where you are focusing. For a landscape, if you are focusing too far away you will get some softness close to you. If it is a person, the single most important thing to have sharply focused is the eyes. I'll change my focus point to one that is close to the subject's eye and use that.

While the rule of thumb is OK for shutter speed (1/focal length * crop factor), faster shutter speeds can only help in eliminating blur due to camera shake. If your aperture allows it, keep the shutter speed up.
 
You could try setting up objects at different distances, and focusing on each one. Or look for something like a fence, that goes on for a while, and shoot it from an angle at different parts of it.
 
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