In most cases, there is more than one person in your frame.  And that means more than one set of eyes to focus on.  So, who do you choose to put in focus?

You need to figure out what your story is and then use your focus points to tell it.  

Here’s are my rules of thumb:

If it’s a family shoot, the child is the focus.

(I break this rule if I want to show the way the parent is looking at the child)

If it’s a wedding, the bride is in focus 80% of the time.

(I break this rule when I want to show the way the groom looks at his bride)

Or you simply focus on the person looking at you.

In fact, looking at each other is a great way to maximize the appearance of focus while also capturing relationships and real expressions.

If you have multiple people all looking directly at the camera and you want them all to be in focus, then temporarily up your f-stop (to maybe 3.2?) and then take the same photo over and over, quickly, quickly, using a different person’s eyes as the focus in each shot.  When you get back to your computer and you can see it on a big screen, you can decide which focus was the best.

And then tell them to stop looking at you and see what happens.  :)

Stay tuned for the next installment of Starting Out.  Coming Soon!

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Tags: children's photography, Espoo, family photography, Finland, Helsinki, Kirkkonummi, lasten valokuvaus, photography tips, professional photographer, Vantaa