Are you Focusing Correctly?

Focussing correctly is key to getting sharp images - are you focussing in the right place?

NIKON GEAR (Main STILLS camera)

FILM GEAR

OTHER PHOTO GEAR

[Arthur-leec]

I don’t understand. The app tells you the hyperfocal distance is 1.2m and you focus at a distant mountain. And you still get a sharp photo both the foreground and background. It can’t be true that as long as you focus at a point behind the hyperfocal distance you always get everything in your composition acceptably sharp.. so what am I missing here? I’m at around 7:35 in your video. Thanks!

[OleSchjodtOsmo]

Love it when you do these “photo walks” into your photo - makes it so easy to understand 😀👍

[Xoot]

"I can't feel my hands" sums up outdoor photography at this time of year ;)

[hamsterneckliving]

I was just realizing that you’re hiking up a mountain with a backpack. That’s great. Your back must be so much better. Way to go. And thanks for this video. Just a few minutes in and I’ve learned a few things. Off to watch the rest and learn some more. Thanks!

[oneandonlyjaybee]

11:35 man that camera looks to be living a charmed life. Looks like its gonna tip forward!

[simonlewis]

This is the type of content that I tune in for each week. This is definitely helpful

[MrRoosterx]

Were in the Lake district on holiday in late summer 2014, loved the slate houses, the boat trip on Windermere and also the landscape.

[KimberlyGJones]

Thank you for so much detail as to the focal points that work best. I've not known where to focus when wanting to achieve maximum overall focus, and this was very helpful. I've also not seen focus stacking done this way and look forward to giving it a try.

[typhoon-]

Already looking forward to the most incredible photo next week.

[Mikegaryhouse]

Always so well explained. Thank you Nigel. I have not looked into this stuff as much as I should have and think it will really elevate my landscapes.

[adhyanthajay]

Great video as always! Although I would like to point out that Photoshop has an option called "Auto-Blend Layers" right below the "Auto-Align" option. Inside that window, you should see an option to stack focus and blend the layers that way. It's a one-click option to do the stacking as opposed to the mask method. Neither is wrong, but in my experience one is slightly faster.

[mariebird]

Great informative video as always Nigel, many thanks for this. I have watched it a couple of times and get different lightbulb moments out of each watch. You explain things in an easy-to-understand way. I can utilise this for my own photography, even though my camera equipment differs, it still translates into info I can use myself. Thank you so much.

[fotiss]

I love that you show where the focus point is. Is it possible to do that for all your videos from now on? I've learned so much and with every video I watch I learn something new

[AndrewJones-tjet]

There seem to be several definitions of "hyperfocal distance". Looks like Photopills uses the definition "The closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp. When the lens is focused at this distance, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be acceptably sharp".

[JonathanRobinson]

Thank you for your technical explanations. They are helpful. Always good to see how much I am doing things incorrectly 🤦🏽‍♂️.

[charlesnewsholme]

Another great adventure with helpful information. Love the moody Autumn views. Many thanks.

[AndyBanner]

Hi, Nigel. Very useful video for people. At 11:09 (ish) your portrait stacked shot, you mention having a continuous run of something to focus on because the stacking can be tricky otherwise. There's another point also in that you run the rick of creating a photo of two halves in a visual sense because if you were, say, much closer to the edge of the cliff you end up with something very close and something very distant and no midground which can be visually jarring

[LauMagroTheFrenchKOInection]

That was just fab and just simply and superbly explained. Thanks Nigel.

[staffordgalli]

Great video and this is something I briefly spoke to you about at your exhibition so great to see you covering it very useful as always! 👍

[timrosenburgh]

Enjoyed the video as usual Nigel.
You explained everything very easy for people to understand as usual.
Great images.
Look forward to the next one.