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Plane of focus

cliveh

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Oct 9, 2010
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35mm RF
I use the depth of field rather than the focus plane. The only time I use the focus plane is if I am using the Scheimpflug principal for large format photography.
 
cliveh said:
What makes you decide on your plane of focus? With me it is usually the main subject, but when looking at pictures like this by Martin Parr, it makes me wonder whether this is always the best option?:-
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Maybe his auto focus was playing up and in his edit he decided he liked the look.
 
RobC said:
Maybe his auto focus was playing up and in his edit he decided he liked the look.
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That happened to a colleague of mine when she went to the DMZ in Korea - the autofocus focused on the huge flag behind her, and her face (only her face) ended up a big blur (much more featureless than the example posted). She thought it was garbage but I thought it was the best and most interesting photo of the trip.
 
Wonderful example of the eye being drawn/forced to the thing NOT in focus. And the mystery that then goes with the apparent main subject being rendered far less clearly than the presumably less important background. Or... maybe it's not less important??

More for the viewer to try and unravel and make sense of is always a good thing in my book. Participatory and challenging viewing. Anyone can figure out the obvious. Obvious is boring.

Ken
 

I have had auto focus focus on the window glass rather than the window display. I have had the auto focus focus on nearby or far away leaves rather than the subject. One must check what is actually in focus when the auto focus may have a different concept of what it subject is.
 
Focus and timing of shutter release are right behind 'framing' in importance. My big gripe about autofocus; it prohibits the photographer from intended focus and timing of shutter release.
 
ic-racer said:
Focus and timing of shutter release are right behind 'framing' in importance. My big gripe about autofocus; it prohibits the photographer from intended focus and timing of shutter release.
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It depends on the camera. With the Nikons one can change the location of the focus spot and-or focus on a subject and then hold shutter release half way down to lock the focus and re-aim. I was referring to just aiming the camera and firing the shutter when there are a few situations, which are discussed in the operation manual, without checking the resulting focus. Remember to RTFM.
 
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