Newbie question: how to focus?

[Egy_lover]

Hi, I'm a beginner and I would like to shoot landscapes...I've just bought a DSLR a month ago and since then I've done alot of reading......The problem is when I try to shoot landscapes the building/object is not always in focus..I try to focus on infinity and use a small aperture f/8-11 but it doesn't work..

Sometimes I use autofocus but what about MF? should I focus on the far most point or somewhere in the middle? I know a much smaller aperture would be better but in low light situations I can't go beyond f/11..

So, any suggestions about focusing in landscape?
Thanks.

[RichardTaylor]

This thread may help.

Focus Method, expalantion needed please

[zona5101]

can you post an example of one of your out of focus shots? Also the exif data of fstope, shutter, and iso used.
I am curious to see if perhaps the 'focus' issue is really motion blur, meaning you are attemping to handhold your camera at too slow a shutter speed. If you you might want to think about getting a tripod. In fact if you do a lot of landscapes, that will eventually become a necessity.
You autofocus or manual approach should work fine. Using a small apreture would force the shutter speed lower which is why I am thinking about motion blur...

[Egy_lover]

Thanks Richard for the post...I've read it but didn't really get the whole mesuring thing! I dunno how to estimate the distance from the object and having to calculate makes it annoying, i think I'll try the AF method used in the post..

Zona5101...yeah, I had this problem first but i figured it out without asking, but even when the camera was steady focusing was the problem, I think may be the building wasn't too far away (100 meters = 300 ft) and that infinity focusing should be limited to "really" far objects? may be? i dunno ...what do you think?, the problem is that i deleted all of most of the photos becuz they sucked!

I remember that used f/8, ISO 100...and the shutter was somewhere between 1/6 & 1/10

[zona5101]

read throught the thread Richard posted.
Then look at this depth of field calculator... you can use something like this when actually taking pictures but I am pointing to it more to give you a feel for how the depth of field changes with lens, subject distance and f-stop

Online Depth of Field Calculator

for example with a 50mm lens on a crop body camera, a subject focused at 300 feet, f8 everything will be in focus (depth of field) from 45.8' to infinity.

[edbayani]

try a faster shutter speed.

[navcom]

Try hyperfocal distance focusing. Don't get frustrated. It's not that hard at all. The discussions on hyperfocal distance get way more technical than you ever need to use it properly. For the time being, forget about all that distance to the subject stuff...it's really not all that important to know. Just do this...

1) Determine what focal length you are going to use for the picture

2) Determine what aperture you are going to set. Since it's a landscape shot, pick something between f/11 and f/16 for starters.

3) Use the online calculator zona provided in the link and plug these two variables into it along with the type of camera you are using. Just forget about the subject distance box. Leave it where it is.

4) Read what your hyperfocal distance is on the right. Turn you camera to manual focus and set the focus ring to this distance (they are the number scale printed on your lens. If you see no numbers on your lens, you will have hard time using this method).

5) Take your picture. That's it!

Example: I'm shooting a picture with a Pentax K2000 and a 16-45mm zoom lens set at 20mm. I'm using an aperture of f/11. According to the calculator, my hyperfocal distance is 5.87 ft. I rotate my lens until it reads about 5.87 (as close as I can get on the scale) and take my picture.

To get a good clean picture, that's all you really need to know. Once you understand how this works, you can start to figure out why it works and how all the "distance to subject" stuff figures in. But one step at a time.

And also a disclaimer...you can never get everything in a photograph in perfect focus unless everything in the image was exactly the same distance from your camera. With a wide angle lens and a small aperture, you can get close, but never perfect. That's just a fact of photography. And it's not necessary to get everything perfect. As the artist, you control that depth of field with your aperture setting and the lens you choose.

Hope that helps!

[IABoomer]

As to estimating lengths, you might consider checking out this quick tip from Lifehacker.

Estimate Distances with Your Arm and This Rule of Thumb

[Egy_lover]

thnx alot everyone...Navcom, ur reply really helped...Technical stuff can be intimidating sometimes (i suck at anything math related!)

Thank you, everyone