Introduction
It's a topic that is often overlooked, especially in these days when most people use mobile phones for their photos and leave it up to the camera to decide where to focus. However, understanding how, and where to properly focus can be critical in achieving your creative vision in landscape photography. So, in this article we will look at the how to get the focus right in your landscapes. Whether you want as much of the scene in focus as possible, or you want to highlight certain aspects in the landscape (such as the hilltop in the image below) understanding your camera's focus system and how to control it is an essential ingredient to becoming a great landscape photographer.
Why not just focus your lens at infinity?
I've previously had students ask me why, when generally we want as much of a landscape to be in focus as possible, why I don't just focus the lens at infinity (on lenses with a focus scale). It's a good question, and there are limited occasions when I might do so (night sky photography being the main one) but there are a number of reasons why this isn't a good approach to take:
- Infinity focus often isn't where the infinity mark (a number '8' on it's side) is marked on your lens focus ring. Each lens is different, but often, putting your lens on infinity will mean that distant objects are actually slightly blurred!
- Focus on infinity might mean that landscape elements a long way from you are in focus, but elements in the landscape closer to you are likely to be blurred (including foreground, and sometimes even middle distance objects).
How and where to focus for general landscapes
When thinking about where to focus in a general landscape (one where there are no important foreground elements too close to you), it is important to understand the concept of depth of field, and especially how it varies with aperture (small aperture = deep depth of field, large aperture = shallow depth of field). See this blog for a full explanation.
Assuming you want as much of the landscape from front to back in focus (which is the norm), the first step is to dial in a fairly small aperture such as f11, f13 or f16. Although aperture can generally go smaller, it's best not to go all the way to f22 or smaller, since this cuts out a lot of light, meaning you may end up having to reduce shutter speed or increase ISO to get a good exposure. So, a good compromise between a reasonable depth of field and a decent amount of light are the middle apertures around f13.
Next, we want to think about WHERE to focus in the scene. In order to have control over where to focus, it's important to take control of your camera's focus system as described in this blog about camera focus points and focus areas.
Once you have control over where you are focussing, a good rule of thumb for general landscapes is to focus ONE THIRD INTO THE SCENE. Now, I appreciate this is a little vague, but essentially it means not to focus on something very close to you, and not to focus on the distant horizon, but instead to focus somewhere in between. The reason for this is that as well as varying with aperture, depth of field also varies with where you focus (as explained in this blog), so by focussing some distance into the scene you will maximise the depth of field for the aperture you are using.
As an example, if I were standing on a cliff top, looking down at a beach, with mountains on the far horizon, I would not focus on the cliff top (too close and will limit depth of field) or on the distant mountains, but would instead choose to focus on the beach below me, which should roughly maximise the depth of field for your chosen aperture.
Shouldn't you try to focus at the 'hyperfocal distance'
You might have heard the term 'hyperfocal distance' and that you should use it to maximise your depth of field, and thereby get the most of your landscape possible in focus. Whilst it's true that using hyperfocal distance is indeed the best way to maximise your depth of field for any aperture, using it in practice is not so easy!
For example, I can tell you that with a 50mm lens and f8 aperture, the hyperfocal distance is around 16 metres (there are apps that can calculate this for you), and so focussing 16 metres away from you will give the widest depth of field. However, I don't usually have a tape measure with me (or an assistant to hold it) and so in practice, hyperfocal distance is simply impractical. It's better just to use the rule of thumb of focussing one third into the scene as covered above (which essentially tries to approximate the hyperfocal distance).
As an aside, there actually is an easy way of setting your focus to the hyperfocal distance without the need for a tape measure, or an assistant, and I will cover this in a future blog!
How and where to focus for other types of landscape
We looked above at the case of general landscapes; wide angle views where there are no important compositional elements in the foreground near the camera. So what do we do when there are? In simple terms, if there is an important compositional element or critical focal point, it's usually most important that this is in focus, and therefore I will usually focus on that point. E.g. if I am taking a photo of a landscape with a Dartmoor pony in the foreground, it is most important that the pony is in focus (and conversely less important that the distant horizon is in focus as the main focal point is in the foreground). I will therefore usually focus on the pony (by controlling my focus as explained in this blog) even if this means that focussing close to me will narrow the depth of field, and cause more distant parts of the scene to potentially be out of focus.
This is the same technique I used to take the bluebell photo at the top of this article. In this case I wanted to intentionally blur the bluebells in the foreground, and so I intentionally chose a large aperture and focussed on the hill top (my focal point). This shows how taking control of your focus, and using depth of field, you can unlock your creative vision in any situation.
Is there a way to get all of the scene in focus?
The simple answer to this questions is 'yes' but it involves taking multiple photos, and using a technique called focus bracketing (and focus stacking). I will cover this in a future blog!
Want to improve your photography skills?
Don't forget that if you want some direct help with your photography, I offer a range of 1-2-1 photography courses for Devon based folks. If you're not nearby then I also offer residential weekends for beginners or intermediate photographers.
About me
I first got into photography after walking the beautiful South West Coast Path: I was so disappointed that my photos didn't do justice to the beautiful coastal scenery that I decided to walk all 630 miles all over again, but this time to also teach myself photography along the way!
A few years later and I find myself as a professional photographer, widely published and with landscape photos which have won national awards. But I do much more than landscapes, providing photography training to businesses & individuals on how to take beautiful photographs, and providing professional photography services to businesses across the South West. My commercial specialisms are property photography, business photography, people photography & aerial (drone) photography.
I’m also an author with a number of published books and I give regular talks about my passion for photography, and for Devon, to camera clubs and other groups.
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