FOCUS ON FOCUSING

Struggling with inaccurate or inconsistent focusing? Then struggle no more with our essential guide to nailing pin-sharp shots of landscapes, portraits, wildlife, and more…

Five pros share their tips for pin-sharp shots

If a picture isn’t focused properly then it’s usually destined for the trash, irrespective of how well exposed it is, or how great the subject might be (with the exception of a genuine shot of the Loch Ness monster, perhaps!). In other words, focus isn’t simply important, it’s fundamental to the success of each and every image you take. But ‘being in focus’ means different things for different genres; what may be applicable for shooting sport might not be so relevant for capturing a pin-sharp macro image.

On the face of it, focus is a simple concept to understand: the subject is either in focus or it isn’t. But actually there’s a lot more to it than that. The amount of your subject that’s in focus is dictated by a number of variables, such as aperture and lens choice, both of which have a profound effect on the image. Sometimes you’ll want to capture every part of a scene in sharp focus, while at other times it might be better to restrict the focus, so that only the main subject is sharp and the background is blurred.

In this feature we’ll examine the role of focus for five different genres (landscapes, portraits, wildlife, macro, and sport) and provide practical, stepby-step advice on how best to focus your subjects. What’s more, five of the country’s leading Nikon pros will reveal their tricks of the trade for nailing pinsharp images every time…