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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Education Field Instructional

How to Properly Focus and Recompose When Shooting a Photo

Chris Gampat
No Comments
04/16/2016
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer HEadshot portrait images (2 of 2)ISO 1601-80 sec

Generally speaking, I never recommend that any photographer focuses and recomposes their camera. With cameras that have well over 100 autofocus points these days, why would you? In practical terms, sometime’s it’s just faster and easier for you to focus and recompose when creating an image vs moving the focusing point selection from one side of the viewfinder to the other.

Back in the film days, photographers used to use the focus and recompose method often because the focusing point was in the center of the viewfinder. The way they did it then was arguably more forgiving before the digital camera world became all about pixel peeping and 100% sharpness at all times.

With digital’s maturity though, photographers can honestly go back to the method with ease. Here’s how to do it in case you never have.

Use the Center Focusing Point

Paige Owen Headhots 2016 by Chris Gampat (9 of 32)ISO 2001-250 sec at f - 3.2

To start this off, don’t set the camera to automatically choose a focusing point for you. The reason why is that this overly complicates things. Instead, make sure that the center focusing point is always selected. It gives you the most work room when recomposing an image.

Before I go on, I should really make this clear: focusing and recomposing is best if you’re really in a rush and you don’t necessarily care about 100,000% sharpness. You’re going to need to make that judgement for yourself based on practical reasoning and thought. One of the biggest determining factors here has to do with your aperture. The less that is in focus to begin with, the greater the chance of you completely missing your subject during the recomposition. If you’re shooting a landscape at f11 and then recomposing, then who really cares?

This method is honestly designed for images that aren’t meant to be pixel peeped–and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of photographers export their images with this intention. It’s very important especially when deliver photos to a client in various situations.

Did I mention lots of us do it? Indeed, not everything is meant to be pixel peeped and viewed under a microscope. Instead, many images are meant for you to *gasp* look at!

Don’t Pivot the Camera, Slide It

SAMSUNG CSC

When recomposing, what I generally recommend is not pivoting the camera. Instead, try to slide it along the same plane of focus. If you’re on a tripod, then you should try to compose before you focus; but the focus and recompose method is generally used by those of us who handhold a camera.

For years, film photographers pivoted the camera even when their lenses were wide open. The problem here is that the focus area is so thin that you don’t have a guarantee that something you’re trying to photograph will be in focus. With sliding, you’ve got more of a chance. Considering the mannerisms of the digital world, you’re also better off because it will give you a better chance at an overall sharper photo–though the idea of sharp enough is surely common!

Reasoning Behind This

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm X Pro 2 more image samples (18 of 26)ISO 128001-125 sec at f - 1.4

Here’s the thought process behind all of this:

  • Take a block, cube or something else and place it against a flat surface so that it’s flush. Then pivot it just a bit.

The block represents the focusing zone and the flat surface is your subject. When you pivot, you throw off the fact that the focusing is flush with the subject. Now try this:

  • Take the block, place it against a flat surface so that it’s flush and then slide it along.

With the block representing the focusing again, you can now see that it still stays on the same plane. To that end, it also stays on the same focusing plane.

Some photographers may call schadenfreude, but it’s simple physics.

compose focus Photography plane recompose
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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