One of the most misunderstood parts about landscape photography is the correct way to fit your entire scene within a photo’s depth of field. Where do you focus? What aperture should you use? You might think that these questions are easy to answer with a hyperfocal distance chart, where you provide your focal length and aperture, and the chart tells you exactly where to focus. There’s only one hiccup — if you want the sharpest possible results, these charts are spectacularly wrong. For most landscape and architectural photographers, that’s a big deal. This article explains everything about hyperfocal distance charts: what they are, why they fail, and where to focus instead.
Table of Contents
1) What Is Hyperfocal Distance?
The technical definition of hyperfocal distance is quite simple: It’s the closest point to your camera that you can focus, while still ending up with an acceptably sharp region at infinity (i.e., your background in most photos).
Why did I put “acceptably sharp” in bold? Because it’s way too ambiguous. I’ll go more into that later, but this is the main reason why hyperfocal distance charts aren’t workable — and didn’t even work in the past, regardless of photographers’ changing standards for sharpness over time.
2) What Are Hyperfocal Distance Charts?
Typical hyperfocal distance charts look like this, although there are different ones for every sensor size:
Essentially, you input your aperture and focal length, and they output the closest point you can focus and still capture an acceptably sharp background. It’s not just charts, either; you’ll also find hyperfocal distance calculators and apps that give you the exact same values, but with some more flexibility on the inputs they allow.
But, since they aren’t accurate anyway, you don’t need to worry about any of this.
3) Why Are Hyperfocal Distance Charts Inaccurate?
Hyperfocal distance charts are wrong because their definition of “acceptably sharp” is sloppy and inflexible.
When the first hyperfocal distance charts were designed, someone decided that an acceptably sharp background contained some blur — enough to notice in a medium-sized print — but, all things considered, not a massive amount. After that point, nearly every other hyperfocal chart followed suit.
To be more specific, most hyperfocal distance charts are calculated to give you exactly 0.03 millimeters of background blur. (That’s the physical size of the blur projected onto your camera sensor.) If you’ve ever heard the term circle of confusion, this is all it’s talking about: the size that an out-of-focus pinpoint of light appears on your camera sensor itself.
So, what’s wrong with this definition? Perhaps your first thought is that this particular value, a 0.03-millimeter circle of confusion, happens to be too large for today’s world of high-resolution cameras, large prints, and 4K monitors. If we simply created hyperfocal distance charts with a more demanding value — maybe 0.015 millimeters, or 0.01 millimeters of blur — we’d be fine. Right?
Nope. Not at all.
That’s because the biggest issue with hyperfocal distance charts isn’t that their circle of confusion is too large. Yes, that is a problem, but there’s an even more important one: These charts recommend the exact same focusing distance for a given aperture and focal length, and it doesn’t change, no matter the landscape.
Say that you’re shooting with a 24mm lens, and you want to use an aperture of f/8 (since it’s the sharpest one on your lens). Logically, your focusing point should change depending upon the scene in front of you — whether there’s a foreground element nearby, or whether you’re at an overlook with everything in the distance. But, according to a hyperfocal distance chart, all you need to do here is focus eight feet away from the camera, and you’re set.
That is very, very inaccurate. Instead, the best method is to change your point of focus depending upon the scene. So, if every element of your image is in the distance, focus at the horizon. Or, if there’s a foreground element nearby, focus closer than eight feet (and use a smaller aperture while you’re at it).
If every one of your photos has an “acceptably sharp” background, that’s all it will have. It won’t have the best possible sharpness. It won’t keep your foreground as sharp as possible. All that it guarantees — and all that a hyperfocal distance chart tells you — is that your background will have exactly 0.03 millimeters of blur for every single photo.
So, drat. It seems like hyperfocal distance is a useless topic that won’t help you take sharper photos at all. Right?
Not necessarily. On one hand, it is true that hyperfocal distance charts aren’t useful; that should be fairly obvious by now. But that doesn’t mean hyperfocal distance in general is a bad concept. In fact, there is still a fantastic way to find the right focusing distance in landscape photography. It is also, I might add, quite a bit easier than pulling out a chart each time you take a photo.
Hyperfocal distance is still useful in situations like this, since I have to find the perfect place to focus in order to capture these flowers and mountains sharp simultaneously.
4) The Optimal Focusing Method
Before going into the proper way to find your focusing distance, let’s examine the definition of hyperfocal distance one more time:
It’s the closest point to your camera that you can focus, while still ending up with an acceptably sharp background.
The holdup so far is that “acceptably sharp” has nothing to do with the scene you’re photographing. Is there a way to change that?
Indeed there is. Instead of defining it as an arbitrary, inflexible circle of confusion — no matter how large or small — I propose that an acceptably sharp background is one that is equally as sharp as the foreground. In other words, the background circle of confusion should be exactly the same as the foreground circle of confusion.
That, and that alone, will give you the sharpest possible results across the entire frame. You no longer have to worry about your foreground being vastly less sharp than the background; just focus closer until the two are equally sharp. And, if your “foreground” (the closest element in your photo) is a distant mountain, all you need to do is focus at infinity, and you’ll achieve a blur much smaller than 0.03 millimeters.
The closest element in this photo is quite far away from my camera. Functionally, it’s at infinity. So, why would I focus 8 feet away (which is what the hyperfocal distance chart recommends for a 24mm photo at f/8) rather than just focusing at infinity? Something isn’t right.
I can see some arguments from people who prefer, in a particular landscape, that either their foreground or background is significantly sharper than the other. That’s fair — but this technique is about maximizing your sharpness from front to back. If that’s your goal, as is the case for most landscape photographers, you’ll want the two to have matching levels of sharpness.
There is only one question left: How do you actually find the point that results in equal foreground and background blur? Is it all just guesswork?
Actually, the optimal method is remarkably simple: Find the closest element in your photo. Estimate how far away it is. Double that distance, and focus there. (That’s the real hyperfocal distance, as defined by equal foreground and background sharpness.)
If the closest element in your photo is one meter away, the hyperfocal distance is two meters away. If the closest element in your photo is ten feet away, the hyperfocal distance is twenty feet away.
This is called the double-the-distance method, and it’s something that should be stuck in the head of almost every landscape photographer. Focus twice as far as your closest object. Done.
In this image, the nearest rocks are roughly four feet away from the plane of my camera sensor. So, to capture the sharpest possible result in both the foreground and background, I just doubled the distance and focused at eight feet.
If you’re worried about estimating distances perfectly, don’t be too concerned. First, this is no different from what you’d do with a normal hyperfocal distance chart — trying to focus at exactly fifteen feet, for example — so it isn’t anything new. And, on top of that, you don’t have to be totally accurate. If you focus at 2.8 meters rather than 3 meters, your photo will still be vastly sharper than if you followed a “proper” hyperfocal distance chart in the first place.
Another great thing about the double-the-distance method is that it doesn’t depend upon your focal length or aperture at all. The proper spot to focus in every single landscape, no matter your settings, is double the distance (again, assuming that you want maximum foreground-background sharpness).
The settings you use are still quite important, of course. If your landscape extends from three feet to infinity, and you’re focused at six feet, you wouldn’t want to use an aperture of f/2. But even if you do use an aperture of f/2, you’ll still maximize the sharpness in the scene; it’s just better to use a more typical landscape aperture of f/11 or so instead.
Actually, that’s another important point. Now that you’ve found the best possible spot to focus, what aperture should you use for the sharpest photo? A smaller aperture will provide as much depth of field as possible, but it also decreases your photo’s sharpness due to diffraction.
That’s also a crucial technique to learn — and, once again, there is an optimal answer — but it is too long to describe in this article. I’ve already covered everything in detail in my article on choosing the sharpest aperture. That’s a great place to start.
So, is that it? You simply focus at double the distance for every photo, and you’re set?
Yes indeed. For landscape photography, this method is a fantastic tool to have in your kit. It’s how I focus for every single landscape I encounter, given that I want the maximum possible depth of field. Don’t worry yourself with hyperfocal distance charts, because their definition of “acceptably sharp” isn’t up to par. Instead, focus twice as far as your closest subject, and you’ll be set.
5) Are Lens Aperture Scales Also Inaccurate?
Some lenses (though fewer nowadays) have built-in scales to tell you how much depth of field you’ll get at a given aperture. They look something like this:
People frequently ask me whether it’s possible to use these depth of field scales to focus properly and use the optimal aperture. Or, like hyperfocal distance charts, are these scales also wrong?
In practice, there are a couple reasons why you’d want to avoid using these lens scales as a guide for the best possible place to focus. First, you have to ensure that the distance markers on your particular lens are accurate in the first place. Not all of them will be calibrated perfectly, and it’s very possible that your lens will misidentify how far away it’s focused. For example, it may say that it’s focused at five feet, but it’s actually focused at seven or eight feet instead.
More than that, though, these focusing scales are also calibrated with a 0.03 millimeter circle of confusion in mind. This means that their depth of field markers are — to say the least — quite generous. I mentioned earlier that 0.03 millimeters of blur is fairly noticeable on medium-sized prints, and that’s still true. If you follow the indicators on lenses like this, your horizon and foreground will each have 0.03 millimeters of blur. That’s not a massive or unforgivable amount, but, very often, you can do better.
So, as a whole, I wouldn’t use these scales to focus properly in a landscape. They’re not quite as bad as hyperfocal distance charts, but the optimal method is, like always, double-the-distance.
Here, the closest objects in my frame are some grasses at the bottom of the image. They were only about a foot away from the plane of my camera sensor. So, I focused two feet away and used a very small aperture of f/16.
6) Conclusion
Hyperfocal distance charts are wrong for two reasons. First, their definition of an “acceptably sharp” background has a 0.03-millimeter circle of confusion, which isn’t particularly sharp. And, even worse, these charts don’t change at all depending upon the landscape in front of you. So, they simply aren’t flexible.
Instead, it’s best to define an “acceptably sharp background” as being “equally sharp as the foreground.” That maximizes definition across the entire frame, from top to bottom, and it lets you do away with the issues of traditional hyperfocal distance charts.
Best of all, finding this point — the correct hyperfocal distance — is simple. You have to locate the closest object in your frame, estimate its distance from your camera sensor’s plane, and then double that distance.
For landscape photographers, this information is essential. If you’ve ever been at a scene with a great foreground and background, but you’ve been unable to capture both as sharp as possible at once, this is the proper hyperfocal distance. Forget charts and calculators; forget depth of field scales on your lenses. By focusing at double the distance, you can maximize the sharpness of a scene without compromise, and it is far easier to put into practice, too.
Here, the nearest object in my photo is the grass at the bottom of the image. It’s about five feet away. So, I focused ten feet away, which lines up roughly with the front of the island in the middle of this stream.
If you have questions about hyperfocal distance charts, depth of field, doubling the distance, or anything else I covered, feel free to ask about it below. This is a higher-level topic, but it’s an important one that every landscape photographer should know. There’s certainly enough misinformation floating around online about hyperfocal distance, so I’ll do my best to address any concerns in the comments section.
I have been taking photos, mainly landscape photos, for more than 40 years. I have always wanted a reliable, simple and easy way to calculate a focus point to get maximum DOF. I have tried carrying DOF tables into the field with me, I have heard about and tried to use the 1/3 in front, 2/3 behind idea, I have tried always shooting at F/22 and I have tried numerous other ideas. None of them worked very well. When they did I began to believe it was an accident.
I am not an optical engineer, I can’t really explain defraction, and I couldn/t explain circles of confusion to anyone. But I do know this, the information in Spencer’s article works. I have taken hundreds of images since reading the article and my success rate of sharp images has been astronomically better. So my point is, I can’t understand a lot of the discussions on this thread, but I don’t need to. I have the results in my image catalog. Sharp images.
Thanks, Spencer.
Ron
Thank you, Ron, I’m very happy to hear that this method has worked so well for you. That’s always the best way to determine the merits of a new technique — testing it in practice.
Thank you Spencer this is a great article. A simple rule of thumb that is easy to remember. Another recommendation I have see is given there is no particular object of focus, then focus about 1/3 of the way through a landscape frame
Glad you liked it! Do you have any clarity on what the 1/3 focus method is supposed to be? Are you supposed to look through the viewfinder, and go 1/3 of the way up from the bottom (with the horizon line being the top, presumably — or is it the top edge of the frame)? Or is it something else? How would you accomplish that in a landscape like the one below, where most of the scene is above the horizon line, and is in the distance, but there still was limited depth of field (due to my telephoto lens)? In this case, if you draw a line that’s 1/3 up to the horizon, and parallel, it intersects with a hill that isn’t even a constant focusing distance from the camera.
I’ve heard a number of people say to focus 1/3 of the way into the scene. That makes me think it is, to a degree, legitimate, in that it actually does produce sharp results. Done correctly, perhaps it gives you exactly the same result as doubling the distance — since that method (and a few others) already find the accurate spot to focus, and there can’t be more than one correct focusing point in a scene.
Unfortunately, any way I attempt to implement 1/3 focus in practice has always turned out poorly, if I even succeeded in applying it to the landscape in the first place. I hope I don’t sound combative or dismissive, either; your comments on Photography Life tend to be quite accurate, and I simply wish to understand the 1/3 focus method, if it is indeed legitimate, so that I can answer questions more accurately when people bring it up in the future. Perhaps it is the type of thing that works best on a flatter landscape with a wider lens, such as the Death Valley salt flats?
Hi again, Spenser … (Disclaimer: I had a conversation with you in the comments following your related article on this same topic: photographylife.com/lands…-explained
I certainly intend to try the DTD method – with my only reservation being that I’m truly lousy at estimating distance.
Responding to your rhetoric question “Do you have any clarity on what the 1/3 focus method is supposed to be?” ;
Initially, I was assuming (wrongly, as it turned out) it meant one should focus at 1/3 of the *distance* into the scene – which didn’t help me at all (‘cos I was back to square-one with my inability to accurately judge distance).
As I thought more about it, and with some practical experimentation, I found that it meant one should look at the scene in the viewfinder and apply 2 imaginary lines between the bottom or “front” of the scene and the “far back” of the scene (eg. top of the mountain) – so that it’s now visually broken down into 3 parts … then focus at an object that’s on the nearest of the 2 imaginary lines (“1/3 into the scene”).
So, in the last example image in the main section of this article, I’d be focusing on the front-to-middle of the island in the stream – similar to what you concluded with the DTD method. And, in the example just above (tree in front of mountain), I’d be focusing on the top of the foreground hill (front, right) – then I’d recompose for the scene.
You make the point (just above, in your pondering on the “1/3 into the scene” method) that the proposed focus point “intersects with a hill that isn’t a constant focusing distance from the camera” – which I can see is correct … but wouldn’t this be exactly the same situation if the distance to the top of the hill was the focus point determined by the DTD method? (Just wondering, for clarity).
Please note; I’m NOT advocating the “1/3 into the scene” approach over the DTD method – – just explaining it as I’ve worked it out (with the benefit, personally, that it doesn’t require me to estimate distance)
Glad that you worked it out! I do now see what the 1/3 distance people are trying to say. I still don’t have a huge degree of familiarity with that method, but check out Pete A’s comment #23 below to see the technical reason why it isn’t optimal.
If I understand your question correctly, no, you don’t have the same ambiguity with the DTD method. In that landscape, for example, the closest object was the bottom-front of the hill at the right, which was about 10 meters away. So, I looked in the scene for an object that was 20 meters away, which turned out to be roughly at the tree itself (though a slight bit closer).
I hope that makes sense. Let me know if I misunderstood something.
Thanks for your response, Spenser … and I’ve read comment #23 as suggested.
Conclusion: I’m gunna give the DTD method a go – As you point out, it’s simply “double the distance” … so, I don’t have to worry about my [in]ability to judge how far away, say, 15 metres is … I just need to be able to judge the distance to twice as far away as the closest object that I wish to be in focus – without regard to how far it is in any particular metric … and I can confidently do that !!
A presentation like this is rather incomplete IMHO if it doesn’t also include the alternative approach described in detail by Harold Merklinger: www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/
In a nutshell, IIRC, focus at infinity using an aperture setting that is the same size of what you want to resolve at infinity. All you are giving up vs the hyperfocal distance approach is a factor of 2 at the near distance.
I hardly ever use hyperfocal and prefer very much to focus on the detail in the landscape that I want to be in focus. I do like the idea presented in the article above to focus on twice the distance of the closest subject that I want to have in focus. Quite convenient.
I am also wondering why there is not a single camera that has the option to tell it to go to the hyperfocal distance directly. The info is in the EXIF data so it should be easy to provide the option to actually have that value used and set on the lens.
Hi Dieter,
If Harold Merklinger’s method works for you, go for it, but I don’t suggest it in general; it really is a spectacularly bad way to focus. It recommends that you focus at infinity for every photo. That could work without too many issues if your subjects are all far away, but it would be a very poor choice for something like the second-to-last image in the article above, where my nearest subject was one foot away. Not to mention the complexity of this method, and I really see no reason why anyone would do it rather than simply doubling the distance…
Well, it did away with the hyperfocal distance issues (which became worse once lenses no longer had DOF scales). But I do agree, nothing is simpler than the easy message you described in your post. I will read your article one more time to make sure I got it right; Merklinger and hyperfocal never really worked for me.
That’s a fair point. I do see where the method originated; it just isn’t optimal if you want the sharpest possible front-to-back image. Thanks for mentioning it, though — I’ve heard a few other photographers bring it up in the past, so it’s clearly a technique that has entered some degree of mainstream use. But there are indeed better options out there.
Best of luck using the DTD method. I think you’ll find it much easier to implement.
This is always a very interesting subject, thank you for a straightforward ‘rule of thumb!
I don’t think that Merklinger “recommends that you focus at infinity for every photo.” His Rule of Thumb 5 states “If we want all objects of, say, 5 millimeters diameter to be recorded—at whatever distance—we should use a
lens aperture of 5 millimeters or smaller and focus no closer than half the distance to the furthest object.” This is in terms of object disk of confusion rather than image circle of confusion; for instance, if your penultimate image was focused at infinity then all objects larger than 1 mm in size will be resolved regardless of distance (up to overall system resolution).
Maybe it’s sound practice to take 4 images: focused at closest object, twice closest object, half distance to furthest object and infinity. Hopefully one will provide the desired balance of focus!
In practice, the Merklinger method does suggest that you focus at infinity for nearly every photo. As you said, “focus no closer than half the distance to the furthest object.” So if the farthest object is a mountain 3000 meters away, it suggests that you focus at 1500 meters or farther — which, functionally, is infinity. Since most landscapes have some distant object on the horizon, it’s fair to say that the Merklinger method nearly always will recommend infinity focus.
It is true that if you want the sharpest image from front to back, focus stacking several images could be the way to go, keeping in mind the standard precautions about focus stacking. But in a single image, you can only capture the maximum front-to-back depth of field by focusing at the point where the foreground and background are equally sharp — the point where their circles of confusion are the same size. That just so happens to be double the distance to your closest object (although there are a few other ways to find it as well).
I noticed the hyperlocal distance in the EXIF just yesterday while checking my shutter count. While the idea of having the camera automatically focus at that distance, the same COC principle applies and that, as far as I am aware, is an unknown value for what my camera uses.
The hyperfocal distance value in your EXIF is calculated, not measured. It’s calculated from your aperture, focal length, and a CoC of 0.03 millimeters. So, it really is no different than simply looking up the value on a “traditional” hyperfocal distance chart yourself. Not as useful as it might seem, unfortunately.
Thanks for confirming the CoC value Spencer; kinda what I figured but it was only an assumption on my part.
Merklinger assumes that infinity is important (if it is not why bother) and having it being the sharpest then use the aperture to resolve the appropriate size of detail on a nearby object works well psychologically for a lot of landscape viewers. Hyperfocal with putting the nearby subject in total focus then change aperture for an acceptable infinity also works well because you are focusing on a true subject. In both end-emphasis approaches, something that can be identified as important – either a nearby object or infinity – is in best focus, and the gradual change of sharpness is monotonic (one-way). This may look more ‘natural’ and less jarring, and certainly is not spectacularly wrong. With double the distance, potentially something that is not identified as a subject is in best focus and blur increases on both sides until it hits max at the two most important topics, the nearby subject and infinity. This can look jarring. Double the distance works best in certain situations. You may not have anything at the best focus distance – this is the ideal case, e.g. looking across a valley with the photo including nearby objects and the other side of the valley with the double distance point corresponding to transparent air only. The other use is demonstrated in this article, where the entire frame from near to far is regarded as of equal importance and a small enough aperture is used so the best focus point is not obvious from looking at the photo at intended display size and viewing distance – everything looks sharp and nothing is sharper than anything else. In these cases double the distance allows the use of the largest possible aperture to achieve a set acceptable out of focus blur across the frame, mathematically. Compared with Merklinger, you might find that the degree by which Merklinger is worse for the close object is pretty small, and the degree by which Merklinger is better for infinity is quite often more noticeable. Test with photos and see.
One of most important concepts in photography was not discussed in this article – and one that is very relevant to the authors proposed method of using the Hyperfocal Principle: “Bracket” your shots to cover any discrepancies that will likely occur while (estimating) focus distance. Bracketing should be a normal routine for any photographer, and especially the Landscape photographer, in helping to maintain more “keepers” as we say, after reviewing all the shots captured at the end of the day. Yes, most relevant shooting film, but by all means as important with digitally captured frames.
And stop looking at the review screen after every shot – pay attention to the subject, and start becoming more engaged in the scene in front of the lens instead of the scene reflected back from behind the lens. “Bracketing” will allow you to become confident in the way you shoot and thus help you to maintain focus on Visualization and Composition.
visualizingart.com
Are there settings in the camera itself that will tell you how far out you are focused if you do a test shot or the half press? I know you see the little dots light up to show your focus points, so do you just make sure one of those is on the double the distance point? Is there a way to see where the focus point really is in my pictures (I wear glasses and have a really hard time seeing if my pics are in focus even after I take them and use the LCD screen). I get home and 1/2 my images are blurry :(
Hello Spencer, thank you for this very useful article. The DTD technique is definitely one that I’ll experiment with. I recently acquired a 15 mm IRIX lens that includes a hyperfocal in addition to the standard DOF scale: there are markings that indicate approximate hyperfocal distances for F8, F11, and F16. After reading your article I realize that this approach, though convenient, doesn’t consider the type of scene or landscape in front of the camera. For example, by setting the aperture to, say, F11 the HF distance would be fixed and scene independent. It’ll have to see how results using the DTD method differ from those with the IRIX HF scale. I’d appreciate any specific comments you might have.
Best Regards,
Angelo
Hi Spencer, I just came across your very informative article. I have a question though that it is not exactly related to your article but I can’t get rid of it from my mind since I got familiar with the hyperfocal distance concept and its application.
my question is: if we have a great DOF by choosing a high F numbers (e.g. F16) why do we need knowing hyperfocal distance anyway. I mean if we choose a high F number we already have everything in focus in an infinite DOF why why do we need to calculate hyperfocal distance in the first place to have most focused area?
I appreciate your guidance and other professionals feedback to clear my mind about this issue.
Thx Amir
Sure thing Amir! A couple reasons.
First, choosing a small aperture like f/16 doesn’t grant you infinite depth of field. If you’re using something like a 50mm lens, you’ll only have “good” depth of field in the range from about 4 meters (13 feet) away from you to the horizon. And that’s only if you focus at the optimal distance of 8 meters away; any other (non-hyperfocal) focusing distance; and your near or far depth of field will suffer disproportionately.
Second, even though f/16 does give you a lot of depth of field, it is not the sharpest aperture to use all the time. You lose a moderate amount of sharpness at small apertures like f/16 due to diffraction blur. I still like f/16 and use it frequently, but a wider aperture like f/8 paired with the double-the-distance (hyperfocal) focusing method will get you sharper images in many cases rather than setting f/16 and focusing on the horizon every time.
Hope this helps!
Just come across this article, and I think it is helpful advice to people who have not fully understood the application of hyperfocal distance, and alternative ways to try to achieve the depth of field they desire.
But I do object to your statement that hyperfocal distances are ‘wrong’! They aren’t ‘wrong’, they give the right answer for what the formula is intended to do – calculate the closest focus that will have an ‘acceptably’ sharp image of an object at infinity. When that is useful, use it. When it isn’t, then don’t!
Hi,
I’m trying to get my head around this technique i first saw it in Dave Morrow’s youtube video some time ago. I’m doing exactly what you wrote about but to me the focus detail is not consistant in the whole image, it’s sharp where i focused but eventually at further distance or maybe towards the sides of the frame it becomes quite a bit softer/blurred. I’m new to these techniques as i’ve only done some casual photography before but now i invested in new gear and want to take my skills to a new level. So far i usually end up photo stacking to get that sharpness across the board but it does feel tedius at times, it would be nice to just snap one photo instead of taking several which there also isn’t always time for…
I got nothing to compare my shots with or no one really ask in person about my “hyperfocal” attempts as you have written about, maybe it just doesn’t compare to photo stacking sharpness and that’s the way it simply is?
Any ideas or enlightenments is welcomed :)
Thanks
Yes, that’s right – using focus stacking is always the “best” way to get the sharpest photo from front to back with minimal diffraction. But it does take added time compared to a single shot, and it doesn’t work well with moving subjects.
The idea behind double-the-distance is that your closest foreground and farthest background will be equally sharp. And the idea behind choosing the resulting aperture that maximizes sharpness (see photographylife.com/how-t…t-aperture) is self explanatory! However, just because this is the optimal way to get the sharpest possible foreground and background simultaneously for a typical lens in a single photo – and, mathematically, it is – that does not mean other techniques such as focus stacking or using a tilt-shift lens cannot produce better results.
I hope this helps!
When estimating the distance from the focal plane to the nearest subject, are you using a perpendicular distance (plane to plane) or a diagonal (right angle hypotenuse) distance from the camera focal plane to the nearest subject? Maybe it does not really matter, since the difference in these two might not be great enough to make a significant difference.
Hi Ken, it can cause a difference in certain scenarios. The correct choice here is to go from the plane of your camera sensor. So, it doesn’t matter whether your tripod is a foot off the ground or ten feet — if the foreground is, laterally, two feet away, you should focus four feet away, laterally.
If you’ve tilted your camera downward to an extreme degree, this can be slightly more difficult to do. You need to imagine where the tilted plane of your sensor intersects with the ground (even if that’s behind you), and measure from that point to your closest subject.
After a bit of practice, though, it’s not too hard to put into practice!