Achieving that Selective Focus

By André Costantini

If you are looking to achieve selective focus there are three things to know that effect the depth of field in your images. They are aperture or f-stop (interchangeable terms), focal length and the distance of focus to your subject. Wider apertures like f2.8 or f2.0 let in more light but provide less depth of field. With longer telephoto lenses there is less depth of field. And the closer your focusing point, or to generalize the closer the subject to the lens, the less of your image will be in focus. This becomes especially apparent with true macro photography. So combining all of these principles will then create the most exaggerated effect. This image was taken with the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 at 75mm at f2.8 at just under 2 feet away.

This image was made in Brazil one afternoon when I was working on assignment down there. As you can see the eyebrows and mustache are in focus but everything else quickly falls out. When using this technique it is critical that you get your focus exactly right. The good news is that when you look through your camera's viewfinder on your SLR, you are seeing what the camera will record at the lenses widest aperture. So you will always get exactly what you see in the viewfinder when the aperture of your camera is set to the wide open setting. Sometimes when working this close to people I will switch the focus mode to Manual. A slight physical movement on the part of the subject or the photographer is enough to make a critical last minute decision and can be the easiest way to achieve the best focus. Be careful not to get "off axis" of the plane of your subjects face, otherwise you can wind up with one eye in focus and the other one out. Also if you tilt up or down you may wind up with the eyes in focus and the lips out. If you are looking to avoid that, make sure that the back of the camera is parallel to the subjects face.

Using a wide open aperture close to your subject can create nice portraits because the effect of something very sharp next to something very soft is often pleasing for our eyes as an audience to see. Speaking of seeing, even though his eyes are dark, I had him face the sky on an overcast day. That creates the soft highlights in his eyes which give the image more depth. Our eyes are drawn to contrast and where light meets dark creates this. He is standing on a balcony with an overhead covering, which is helping to give direction to the light and shadow on the top of his head and cheek.

So if you want to maximize the effect of the selective focus remember to open wide, go long and get close.

Comments

[Life with Kaishon]

What a great tip. LOVE this picture. Wow.

[Brett]

Now THAT's what I'm talking about.

[Brett]

I want to share this on facebook. Where is it?

[andre]

thanks brett. you can post this on fb.
ac
http://tamrontechstips.typepad.com/tamron_blog/2011/09/achieving-that-selective-focus.html

[Fran Cooper van Allen]

WOW I think I just got it!!!!! THANK YOU!