5 Ways I Approach Focusing for Landscape Photography
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- How to focus and get sharp images with your landscape photography is a question I asked myslef a lot when I first started. In this video I go over 5 different ways in which I apprach a scene when deciding how best to focus.
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At 5:00, "Bits are soft in the foreground, bits are soft in the background, no one cares, no one cares." Love it, thanks for keeping it real.
Like the 60's style haircut. It reminds me of the British Invasion Era of the Beatles. 😆👍🎵🎶🎹
@Phil Weatherley Love your wit Phyllis.
I promise you this video will be very popular ;D
I agree!
good common sense advice. Given the high number of pixels my camera has (Sony A7R iii) another "trick" I employ sometimes when I cannot focus stack but need a deeper depth of focus is to simply shoot the scene wider than I need (i.e. 20mm when 24mm is the framing I want). As we all know, the wider the shot, the deeper the focus range is. Then I just crop in post and still have a very large image.
You still inspiring people even in the lockdown situation. Amazing photographer!!!
Double-distance focusing; find the closet point in the image you want in focus and double that distance, relative to your camera position, for a focus point. Easier, faster and arguably more accurate than hyper-focal/i/3 in focusing.
Thank you thank you thank you. I've learnt more from this video than i have in the last 30+ years of photography.
Well as far as I'm concerned this IS the definitive guide on focusing landscapes! Thank you as always Thomas. This just makes me look forward to getting back out there even more. Stay safe and be well :)
Brilliant... Thank you
THANK YOU! I'm so glad that other people are taking the same approach as I have been afraid to divulge due to the obsessed nature of many "serious" landscape photographers. But, honestly, if the extreme corners or foreground of your images aren't perfect, that's usually a visual HELP, not a hindrance! Leading the viewer's eye is one of the most powerful tools that a photographer has, and it can be ruined by over-thinking focus technique, and needlessly focus stacking or making sure the foreground/corners are tack sharp, when the main subject is in the central zone of the image...
Also, to anyone who thinks diffraction isn't a concern: You might as well trade your 40-60 megapixel sensor in for a 12-24 megapixel sensor, if you shoot at f/22. You're wasting all your technique for tripod stability etc, not to mention the money you spent on your camera, if you don't perform a very careful test to determine where diffraction comes into play for your particular setup, and draw your own line in the sand at whatever aperture you deem to be the limit of acceptability.
Good luck! Thanks for sharing, Thomas, I can't wait to see your next "real" adventure!!!
You nailed this! Whatever prep you did to produce this video, put it in a jar and use it again and again when you do tutorials. Really chilled, positive and clear - much appreciated.
Thanks Tom I used your this Focus method on my first time to Rocky Mountain Colorado trip and got pretty good images thanks you....
Proper helpful for a starter like me.
love the help, a great tool to come back to. I think I'm going watch that bit about shapes a few more times. I love the idea, but it take a few for things to stick in my head, but great video Thomas.
Straight forward, no fluff. Thank you.
I don´t think most ameteour photographers really comprehend the value of this video, thank you mate...
One of the best quick summaries I’ve every seen. I’m saving and may put these ideas on a 3x5 card. Thanks
That lighting setup is looking great in this video! love whatever you have done
The moving sea in foreground tip was precious, thanks.
That was very helpful. Far less complicated than what others make focusing to be.
Fab, as I don’t have photoshop I always focus to infinity even with close up foreground. And I agree if it’s slightly off it leads you into the scene. Never had a problem doing that.
This is now my favourite video on this subject! Brilliant, thank you!
I've been doing photography for a decade and only now learn that the mirror is up when you're in live view. Duh, Angel. That's why I watch Heaton vids! Or should I say, Shaggy from Scooby Doo! ;)
Whoa!! That was my village at 5:38!!
While I don't do a load of landscapes, especially not during lockdown I really appreciate these tips. It's great to have this video, I've taken notes, and look forward to putting this into practice
Susinct. Accurate. Helpful. Compressive. Great job.
So helpful! Thank you for sharing.
Another great video with great advice. Thanks.
Thomas........ your "DO" is getting huge mate!!! You could use "focus to infinity" to capture all your hair in buddy! haha........ Another great short and to the point video. Cheers!
Haven't enjoyed a vlog as much in a long time, welcome back. Hitting a subject which everyone struggles with, simplifying the knowledge and making it understandable in your own style. And i must say you yourself look a lot brighter and cheerful. 😁😁🏴
Thanks Thomas! Very useful tips!
Mate, loved the way you explained. Specially at 9.19. 'Don't take this as definitive guide ----'. Subscribed immediately.
Thank you so much for your simple and down to earth honest conversation. wonderful :)
Nice concise guide Thomas. Some of us older photographers can't trust our own eyes for focus like we used to. Using the spot focus during Live View is a Godsend in that case.
Struggled with focusing for years! You've answered all my issues in 10 mins.... cheers Thomas.
Fab video, Tom! Thanks and I hope you and your wife are well and safe. Being locked down here in Atlanta is driving me bonkers, so your videos are a big relief!
Sean
Great presentation, I learned a lot
Thanks!
This is useful to a lot of people that started on digital. Thank you! People should look at old lenses with distance scales and depth of field indicators though
About the straps, I use peak design ones with anchor link, you can take them off in a second, very usefull😁
Thomas thank you so much for your focusing tips. I am watching your videos backwards (from newest to oldest) and have been asking myself all this time “I wish Tom would tell us what he’s focusing on,” well here is the explanation I needed. Great content. Thank you
As a fairly new photographer these tips are awesome. Very easy to understand, thank you.
Wow, great video. Thanks for this!
Thanks Thomas very usefull video thanks to tha all information thank u
Hi Thomas. Your tutorials are always very interesting and a pleasure to watch. I’ve got a photo shoot on this Sunday, Mundaring Weir in Western Australia. Landscape. Normally I use manual focus with maximum focus peaking, I light the scene up, usually on F11 to F16 maximum. I use a remote to focus & take the shot. Every photo shot to me is a learning curve. I mess up, learn, try again. I make the usual mistake of shooting in bright sky and I’m a slow learner and mess up by blowing out the highlights, using exposure comp. & find the bloody shadows are toooo black. One day I’ll get it all right. Stay safe Thomas. Thank you.
Phew! Thanks Thomas. I picked up your 'focus on infinity' early on after I started getting into photography and it's served me well but I've also just picked up the same habits as you in other cases. Nice clear explanations. Could you do something similar on metering modes please. I tend to use spot metering most of the time from something I read but an equivalent explanation on that would be really useful. Thanks again.
Very straigtforward and interesting! Thank you so very much for this lesson!
Very much enjoyed this video. Took notes and decided your info is like a 'cheat sheet'. Easy to remember. Thanks.
Very good video, Thomas.
Great tips and lots of great examples. 👍😎
Great explanation
🇮🇹 la migliore spiegazione che si possa avere thanks🇮🇹
These tips are really helpful. Cheers! 😁
Agreed Thomas - was dreading that for #5 you’d say calculate the hyperfocal distance using some app lol. Looking forward to your post lockdown content. F11/f16 should do it if you focus about a third of the way into the scene.
I use old 60s, 70s lenses which have markings for easy hyperfocal distance determination. If used on a full frame DSLR or 35 mm body, they work fine. Not so on APS or other sensors. I also shot 6x7, where dof is very shallow. The markings and scales of those lenses are priceless.
Glad you didn't give a talk on hyperfocal distance. And well done for the new hairstyle, swept back like that is quite dashing.
Why? I would've liked to hear his take on hyperfocal distance.
He kind of did when he said to focus 1/3 - 1/2 into the scene
Hi Tom, excellent video, as usual, sitting and talking photography can be just as effective as being out in the field. Cheers mate,
From someone who has really struggled with improving my landscape images. This is a video with such simple and easy advise that I already know if I follow and adapt your focus rules to my scenes I will improve for sure. Thanks Tom
Great Video Tom!
Davy Crokette came to mind 😆. Seriously excellent vid as always Thomas!
Thomas, another great post. I started watching you because I like nature, but I am learning and Want to try some of your techniques.
Very good video, thank you so much!
Sometimes my camera is very close to the foreground, then focus to infinity will not work, even with f/16. What really helped me was a DoF app and then selecting a focus point that decreased my near limit to less than 1m or something and the far limit to infinity.
Best results with focus stacking though. But I don't want to take 3 pictures all the time and then spend more time to process the images in post. Focus stacking for me is just some sort of last resort.
And you are absolutely right about the kit lenses :-)
Brilliant video, lots of good tips here.
Nice honest video
Straps keep the tripod from blowing over in wind. And, I loosely hold the strap when making log exposures on a tripod, and I've never had a sharpness problem. A strap is just another security option.
Very concise,and helpful. Been a bit afraid of focus stacking, because of the masking, would love to see more explanation on that.
Thanks!
So, I am only now figuring out how to filter and see these Thanks, so thank you for the donation. I genuinely appreciate it. Sorry for my late reply!
Good discussion and good tips. Just subscribed.
Hands down the best vid on landscape focusing. Great video Thomas! 👍
Thanks for the tips, definitely been pointed in the right direction for shooting landscapes 👍
Thomas: Very well done. Covered all the essentials and was very helpful. I follow you, Nigel, Simon, Mads and Mark Denney. Every time I watch I learn something or reinforce what I already knew. Thanks!!!
TH, how do you do it?! Get so many excellent tips into one short video, I mean! Always worth watching. Thank you.
Nicely explained, will follow your technique in future. Thanks for sharing valuable knowledge.
Great video. Thanks so much
Well put together a video, very helpful suggestions. You summarized the important aspects in clear, definitive terms. Thanks for posting this, Thomas!
Great video! We are all going long hair. Cool!
A very concise and excellent video. Got some great tips for a subject that I have personally struggled with in the past. Thanks for sharing. 👍
Nice video Tom, good to reaffirm that I'm focusing properly, basically I focus the same as yourself although I did wonder about the moving foreground scenarios and those images where there's no stand out subject like the forest image... I'm definitely with you on having the back or mid - back sharper than the front of the image if it's one or the other.
Thanks for sharing the video and your focus techniques Thomas cheers 👍🙏
Thanks a lot I enjoyed it.
Great advice, very thorough. I would like to add that lenses have sweet spots i.e. best focal length to aperture for optimal sharpness dxomark.com is a great resource for checking this. They have a great database of lenses and bodies to check what the best settings to use are. I find my prime lenses are best for sharpness though as they fixed glass as opposed to any of my zooms.
Thank you Thomas. Excellent tutorial. It earned a sub from me and I look forward to checking out more of your content.
Great video Thomas. Great overview, short and to the point! Real Worth the time watching it! Thanks
another awwwwwwsome video keep smiling
I have never focused stacked but have always wanted to do it. Just never have… Don't do enough outdoor photography but want to start… 💙
But one thing I think needs to be discussed more at length is how big of a difference there is between shooting closer material and far away material as pertains to focusing. And what I mean by that is the further away you are from a scene, the more camera shake begins to become exaggerated. If you're shooting portraits up close, camera shake isn't going to really be noticeable at all at decent shutter speeds, especially with IS turned on. But if you're taking photos of a mountain, you HAVE to be on a tripod not simply because it's a static scene you don't need to hand hold with, but because even the tiniest motion is so much more exaggerated since the scene is so much further away, and your IS simply can't quite cut it. I personally find tripod essential when shooting stuff that's even only a hundred feet or more away, even with IS turned on and at a high shutter speed.
I too have never focus stacked, and never will.
Photography came such a long way before focus stacking was a thing .... which makes me think it is unnecessary.
I remember split-field filters featured in photography books, but those were used for extreme differences in focal distance.
If you use the hyperfocal distance, it should be enough for most landscape scenes.
Don't be afraid to stop down to f22, it's there for a reason.
When you are a long time subsciber and you already know all these from random previous videos of Thomas...! :D
I think all the top handful landscape channels are bringing out all the same material lately
This is very helpful! I’ve never understood the application of anything over f8 as it applies to landscapes. Now maybe I can get that beautiful image of Mt Rainier! Thankyou so much
Thanks Thomas ! I must use the tripod more and try to lock the mirror.
Thanks Thomas, so clearly and succinctly explained. I has put a lot of thought into the right perspective.
great tips
Thank you so much for telling everyone about the center column. Lots of great advice, well done!
Oh hey, I didn't know Justing Bieber got into photography - he he. Great content as usual, thanks!
Faramir actually...
Bieber has less make up 😀
@Phil Weatherley Exercise restraint PW, eventually you might manage to conceal yours.
Thanks a lot! Whoever does landscape photography, he's an aperture guy!
Great video Tom, as usual. Lots of great information! Also, I finally got a proper haircut and Chris has begun talking to me again. Cheers, buddy!
Simple and concise, Thomas! Have been making a check on each item you mentioned. Focus stacking would be my next best thing to consider, instead of merging in hdr, photomatix. Thank you!
Thank you Thomas - always pick up great tips watching your videos.
These are great tips. Thanks so much for all your content..now to get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot.
Excellent, practical advice all around. I've used the focus to infinity technique since I saw your video of a few years ago where you put several focusing methods to the test and found that it worked best, or at least as well any of the more complicated methods you tried. It always works for me. I also recommend testing your lenses to determine which aperture produces the sharpest results. I found that all of my lenses (good but not "L" quality Canon lenses), start to suffer from diffraction above F11, so I never shoot beyond that unless I'm going for a starburst effect.
Thanks a lot for this video. I found it very useful and interesting for the different methods and for the tips.
Sneak peak of your new/old medium format film camera there, nice one. Slap some Portra 400 or Ilford Ortho in there. 👍
I may be wrong, but it is the second time that I see a black Hasselblad V system in your last few videos, so I guess that the camera you were talking about last week, is the Hasselblad 500 series.
Finall, some practical stuff for the Everyman, fabulous