Full focus on Nikon D3200

[HunterTony]

Anyone know how to set the focus to try and give sharp focus on both foreground and background at the same time? I'm new to Digital photography (did Photography many years ago with my Pentax P30, so im very rusty!)

 

[Neoni]

Anyone know how to set the focus to try and give sharp focus on both foreground and background at the same time? I'm new to Digital photography (did Photography many years ago with my Pentax P30, so im very rusty!)

its all about the aperture i believe (im amateur too) what is your f set at?

 

[K.C. Leblanc]

The simple answer is to use Aperture priority and and use a high F number. Bare in mind this will reduce the shutter speed. So you might either need to increase the ISO or use a tripod. You will also get more depth of field at wider angles.

This vid explains how to do the opposite of what you're after, but the concept is the same.

I would have a dig around the early Digital Photography one on one vids. They are very good at covering the basics.

 

[Skalaberg]

Put the camera into Aperture priority mode (A on the dial) and let the camera worry about all the other settings for now as it will adjust them automatically for you.

Go outside and pick something like a long fence and point the camera along it trying to focus about a third of the way down. Take pictures at all settings you can from the smallest to largest aperature your lens will allow (for example f3.5 right upto something like f22) but keeping the same focal point on the fence (or wall or whatever)

Take a look at home at the pictures to see what effect these different appertures have on the overall focus of the shot. Also take note of what happened to the ISO values and shutter speeds as well that the camera will have changed for you as you raised the F number.

 

[D.P.]

See here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18629732
for a discussion of Depth of Focus (DoF).


What you want to do is use a small aperture (so a large F-number), and try to increase you focus distance to the subject.



How to really maximise the Depth of focus you want to focus at (or slightly beyond) the "hyperfocal focusing point". it is clear when you take a photo that there is subject distance behind the focus point that is sharp, and some distance in fornt of the focus point that is sharp. If you focus to infinity then you throw away a large amount of that background focus. Hyperfocal focusing simply suggest to move the focus point a bit further from the background so you benefits from both sides of the depth of focus. The hyperfocal point is the distance that will maximize Depth of focus for a given lens and aperture.

Obviously you can't accurately know the distance to you have to guess. In general you don't need to be too precise. For landscape work without a foreground element then anything 50-100ft away works. When you have a strong foreground element you will need to bring the focus point much closer (start at 5-10ft, you might be able to get a little closer even, this is for a lens at 18mm stopped down to f/11).


Review the images on the LCD screen to get an idea of whether the foreground and background are sharp.


Something else to consider is that you sometimes don't really need the far, far background to be 100% in focus. Humans rarely see the background as that sharp anyway, we use the slight softness and low contrast of distance mountains to give us a depth cue. Atmospheric distortions, heat haze, dust etc. all work to reduce distant sharpness, colour and contrast so i wouldn't worry too much about trying to maximize sharpness at infinity.