Photography Tips, Tutorials & Techniques

The truth of the matter is that camera lenses are expensive. Not all of them are really expensive, but some of them are. And even for the ones that aren’t, it’s not like any of us want to go out and purchase another one because something terrible happened to the one we have.

In today’s post, I’d like to talk about something so simple that it’s not really discussed all that often. I’d like to talk about different ways we can protect our camera lenses. While protecting something that’s used so much in so many different types of environments can be challenging, there are some clever ideas we can take advantage of. I’ll do my best at laying them out below.

Camera Gear Insurance

For the amateur photographer, I shouldn’t even be talking about this. For the professional photographer though, this may be something worth looking into. Through the years, I’ve heard a lot about photographers insuring their cameras and gear. I mean, think about it. If photography is your livelihood and your gear is one of the most expensive investments that can easily amount to tens of thousands of dollars or more, isn’t it wise to insure that gear? I know this doesn’t really have to do with just lenses per se, but since camera lenses are so expensive and can take up the majority of what a camera setup costs, you would need to do everything in your power to not lose your investment. Think about checking camera gear for plane travel. Think about it bouncing around in the back of a jeep as you’re driving through the jungle. Anything can happen.

By the way, I just did a quick Google search to see if camera gear insurance is easy to find and it’s all over the place. There were lots of smaller agents on page one with Nationwide Insurance as the largest vendor.

The Way You Carry Your Camera

I want you to do me a favor and take a look at this photo.

Do you see anything wrong with it? Do you see how long that lens sticks out from the camera? Imagine someone called this person and said, “Hey, quick, take a look at this!” And the person holding the camera swung around to the right to look. If there was something in the way, the big ol’ lens would smack right into that object. That’s not good for lenses.

The girl in the photo most likely has the camera strap over her shoulder in such a way as to make the camera and lens face outward. If she were to turn that strap around so the camera faced inward, the lens would be much more protected. This is such a simple idea.

A UV Lens Filter

The longer you stay with photography, the more you’ll hear about screwing UV filters onto the ends of your lenses as protection. You’ll hear things like, “I don’t think UV filters actually do anything, but they’re cheap enough to buy and to keep on the end of my lens, you know, just for protection.” You’ll hear stories about falling down and having the UV filter crack, but the lens staying safe. You’ll hear it all. And guess what; it’s all true. Adding a UV filter to the end of your lens can keep the lens glass out of harms way in so many different ways. Not only from falling down and having your camera lens crack into something, but from scratches and bumps and fingerprints and everything else. It’s like adding one of those clear plastic protective coatings to your smart phone. Those are to keep the real surface squeaky clean.

The only issue with UV filters is that they can, at times, create a ricochet of light which can create an artifact on the camera’s sensor, which can result in an imperfect photo. I don’t think this is very prevalent out there, so tons an tons of photographers swear by the UV filter solution.

The Lens Hood

I’m sure you’ve seen these things before. They’re cheap and they’re all over the place. A lens hood is a piece of gear that you either pop or screw onto the end of your lens. It’s primarily used to keep various angles of light off your sensor and flares out of your photos, but they’re become increasingly popular for lens protection in and of itself.

Think about what a lens hood does. It keep errant light from reaching your camera’s sensor. It also keeps your lens glass from bumping into something, unless, of course, that something is pointed in such a way as to make it past the distance of the hood. Lens hoods also keep dirty, oily fingers off the lens glass itself. So even if you use a UV filter as protection against bumping, you may still be smudging the filter glass. With a lens hood added as well, those smudges won’t be there. They won’t make it into the interior area, which is a good thing.

In my opinion, a lens hood combined with a UV filter is a great way to go. Getting rid of the UV filter altogether is also an option. I know how much photographers like a pure lens to look through, so cheap UV filters are out of the question. I suppose you could always go the expensive route and get a really high quality filter, but that would be up to you.

I hope I offered some helpful suggestions for how to keep the glass at the end of your camera lens safe. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below or in the photography discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Have you ever heard of the blue hour? If you’ve been involved with photography for a while, you’ve most likely come across the term, the golden hour. That’s a period of time, either in the morning or the evening, when the sun sits low on the horizon. The sky gets orange or red and you’ll see photographers flocking to beaches and anywhere else they’ll get a good shot. Photography turns magical during the golden hour.

You can probably consider the blue hour as a subset of night photography. This is a period of time (about an hour) after sunset where the sky is dimly lit by residual light of the sun. There may be a bit of orange left way down on the horizon, but mostly, the sky will be dark blue. A long exposure time will bring that right out and you’ll see it as plain as day. If the moon is out, the blue hour can extend for many hours throughout the night. As long as there is light to offer color, you’ll be able to see and capture the blue with your camera.

Let me show you an example of this type of photography.

In the image above, you can still see a fair bit of orange from the sunset, but I think this would be considered as something that’s occurring during the blue hour. As I said, the blue hour can actually extend far beyond twilight and go into the night. If the moon is out, you’ll be in for a special treat, beyond the offering of color. I’ll talk more about that below.

In today’s post, I’d like to discuss the various settings that are necessary to capture these kinds of shots. Some settings will be as simple as adjusting the shutter speed, while others will require you to go into full Manual Mode and make a few more adjustments. There’s nothing terribly complicated about this kind of photography, but I will tell you that you’ll definitely need a tripod. As with any night photography, long exposure times are common and blur can rear it’s ugly head without the proper equipment.

The Process

As photographing the blue hour is considered night photography, all the rules of focusing your camera in the dark apply. If you haven’t read my post on how to focus at night, I encourage you to do so. Once you get your camera set up correctly, the fun will begin.

How to Focus Your Camera at Night or in the Dark

What I’m going to do below is concentrate on specific camera settings. I know people like to cut to the chase with this sort of thing so they can run outside to experiment, so I’d like to make it easy for them. Here’s what I would do if I were going outside at, say, 9pm or 10pm for a photo shoot. .

First, I’d find my scene. Then, I’d set my tripod up and attach my camera to it. Once I set up my camera and have it pointed at whatever it is I’d like to photograph, I’d dial in the focus according to the instructions in that post I just linked to.

Okay, here’s the important part – the camera settings. Since this is night photography, I’m going to need a long shutter speed. Depending on how dark it is out, I’ll set my camera to Shutter Priority Mode (denoted by an S or a Tv on the dial) and then set the shutter speed to something between 15 and 30 seconds. Also, since I don’t want my camera to automatically set the ISO to something too high, I’ll manually set that to either 100 or 200. If I’ve got a lens that can handle a large aperture, the camera will most likely adjust that for me. Because of the darkness, I’d like the aperture to be large. It’s got to let as much light in as possible.

Regarding the moon, if it’s out, I want to let you know that the light from it can dramatically alter the brightness and color of your photos. If there’s no moon in the sky and you’re shooting about a half hour after sunset, you’re likely to get a nice, even blue across the (clear) sky. If the moon is out, the blue will be somewhat diminished because of that added light. Also, if you happen to point your camera right at the moon and try to focus on it, you’ll see the scene’s lighting go haywire. I wouldn’t suggest focusing on the moon itself. Let it sit off to the side.

Getting a Starburst From the Moon

I have previously mentioned (on this blog) that small aperture sizes give off starburst effects when it comes to the sun or to the moon. If you’d like to display one of these effects in your blue hour photographs, you’ll have to switch your camera to use Manual Mode. Again, I would use a 30 second exposure, an ISO of 100 or 200 and then I’d set my aperture to f/11 or smaller. For an example of a starburst effect with an f/11 aperture size, please take a look at the third photo found on this page. I took those photos recently while on a nearby cliff in Maine. With a small aperture size, you can turn a regular looking moon into a very special looking one.

Please remember, the smaller your aperture, the longer your shutter speed time will need to be. Since your ISO will be set to a low value, it’s going to be a balance between shutter speed and aperture size. If you’ve got a nice large aperture and the moon is illuminating the sky, you can probably get away with a shutter speed of around five seconds. You’ll need to experiment with this. Keeping the shutter open for too long of a time while the moon is out can overexpose a photo.

Night photography, especially photography taken during the blue hour, can wake up otherwise boring and normal looking photos. Sure, a scene may be interesting or even beautiful during the daylight hours, but at night, with the right camera settings and under the right conditions, you can bring that scene to life.

I hope I offered something valuable in this post. I hope I gave you some settings to go out there and experiment with for this type of shooting. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below. Also, as always, you can ask me or anyone else questions in the discussion forum.

Panning a camera is like serving a tennis ball. It’s all about the follow through. I’ve played a lot of tennis in my day and I can tell you that the follow through is where it’s at.

Have you ever seen one of those photos that looks like something is moving fast in it? Or perhaps moving slow? Moving all the same. There’s movement. While the subject of the image is clear, the background is blurred in one direction or another. Have you ever wondered how the photographer took that photo? For the longest time, I did wonder about that and today, I’m happy to tell you that I know how it’s done. Of course, I plan on telling you all about it. But first though, take a look at an example photo to see what I’m referring to. This is a photo of a gentleman riding a bike along a river.

As you can see, the subject is clear while the background is blurred. Let’s go over how exactly this technique is accomplished.

What’s This Panning All About?

When someone “pans” a camera, they’re moving that camera to the left or to the right. It’s like they’re drawing a gigantic sideways arc with it. Most of the time, they’re attempting to track a moving subject, hence the panning.

Now here’s the thing. If someone is tracking a moving subject and they have their camera set to use a very fast shutter speed, they may not capture any movement in the photo at all. The feeling won’t be there. It’ll be like the subject isn’t moving and the photographer isn’t panning. Because photographers oftentimes want to evoke some sort of an emotion, they’ll slow the shutter speed of their camera down a bit and then pan. They’ll track the moving subject and at the right time, they’ll snap the photo. Because the panning is combined with the slower shutter speed, they’ll end up with a subject that appears still and a background that appears to be moving. It’s a rather interesting effect. When it comes to this type of effect, it’s more about what implied, as opposed to what actually exists.

The Difference Between Panning & Trails

When a photographer pans a subject, he or she is moving the camera in tandem with the subject. As I said above, this creates a still subject and a moving background. Conversely, when a photographer keeps the camera still and simply slows down the shutter speed when something is moving by them or in front of them, everything in the scene will remain still, but the subject will appear to be moving. These two things are quite the opposite. The reason I mention this is because I didn’t want anyone to get confused by these two different types of “movement” shots.

The Rules For Panning & Getting Great Photographs

1. Understand that this isn’t the easiest of techniques. You’ll need to practice it quite a bit to, first, get used to what’s happening and second, to become proficient at it.

2. The slower a subject is moving, the easier it is to take a nice photo.

3. Fast moving subjects will make you want to throw your camera in the river. Trust me, start with slow, slow, slow.

4. While panning, if you’re shooting free-hand, you’ll need to keep your hands as steady as possible and you’ll need to keep your pan as horizontal as possible. Trails behind the subject will likely appear in the photo and the goal is to have those trails as straight as possible. The same goes for any blur that’s introduced into the photo.

5. Panning is all about shutter speed and camera movement. The faster your shutter speed (1/200 second), the crisper the subject will be. Remember though, with a fast shutter speed like that, there won’t be as much blur and drama in the background. The slower the shutter speed (1/4 second), the more drama there will be in the background, but the subject will be less crisp. Also, with a slower shutter speed, there’s more of a chance that the camera will pick up on an unsteady hand. The trails and blur may have an arc to them.

6. Panning at night is different than panning during the day. All the rules for night photography apply for panning at night. You’ll need to take ISO, aperture size and shutter speed into account.

7. For fast moving subjects, such as motorcycles riding around a race track, you’ll need a faster shutter speed (1/200 second). For slower moving subjects, such as a car driving by on the road or a bicyclist riding by, you can go with a slower shutter speed (1/25 to 1/8).

8. When learning how to pan your camera, I suggest you try to take photos of slow moving subjects while using relatively fast shutter speeds. You may want to take a photo of someone slowly riding a bicycle in a park with shutter speeds that range between 1/100 and 1/200 of a second. Once you get the hang of things, you can incrementally slow down the shutter speed and move to faster subjects.

9. When panning, use a VR (Vibration Reduction) or an IS (Image Stabilization) lens on your camera. These types of lenses remove a lot of camera shake, which there will be because of all that movement.

10. Use Shutter Priority when panning. You control the shutter speed and the movement of the camera. Let the camera do all the other thinking. There will be enough on your plate to deal with.

11. When panning, keep tracking with the lens pointed at the subject and continue to take multiple shots. Keep the camera smooth and push the button without pausing or stopping the movement of the camera at all.

12. Practice, practice, practice. You can’t read about this photography technique online, go outside and expect to take perfect shots. This type of style is going to take practice to become proficient at. With enough practice and wasted photos, I promise you that you’ll eventually end up with something you’re proud to show others.

I hope I clearly explained some tricks and tips for how to go about panning your camera to capture moving objects. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below. Also, you may ask any question you’d like in the discussion forum as well. Thanks for reading!

Photo credit: d26b73 on Visualhunt.com / CC BY

If I had to guess, I’d say that one of the most fun things about photography is browsing through all of the gadgets that are available for us to use. Whether this browsing be online or in a physical store, it’s all the same. When someone is into photography and has chosen to make it a part of their life, there’s no shortage of really cool stuff to buy.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever taken outdoor photos to find that they looked nothing like all those beautiful photos you see online? Have you ever wondered what trick those “pro guys” employ to get the photos they do? Have you ever wondered if you needed new equipment to get those types of photos? That it was the equipment that was at fault? I mean seriously, why is it that I can stand in the middle of a field taking a picture of the same tree that I just saw in a magazine and my photo looks like garbage and theirs looks wonderful? Why, why, why? I suppose that’s the eternal question.

For all you beginners out there, I’m going to tell you something. A few weeks ago, I was sitting on a ski lift chair, descending from one of the highest mountains in Maine, next to a wonderful couple who loved to take photographs. Everyone on the lift had cameras in their hands. I had mine and I was snapping away. The woman next to me was holding an iPhone and she was using that as her camera. Every time she would take a picture, I would look at it. Then I would take a picture of the same thing she just did and mine wouldn’t look nearly as good as hers did. I’ll tell you this; I wondered what was going on. Why was a cell phone taking nicer photos than my much more equipped Canon DSLR?

It’s not the camera that’s the problem. Let’s get that straight. Okay, maybe it is in some cases under some circumstances. These would be edge cases such as high speed or some sort of massively high dynamic range situations. For regular shots though, it could be something as simple as the time of day or the lighting you’re scene is experiencing. These things might account for why your photos aren’t looking as good as the ones you see from the pros out there. The question is though, how can you stand next to someone with the same or similar camera, or you even having a better camera, and they’re beating you at every turn? How in the world do they do it? Well, I’ll tell you the dirty little secret that’s not talked about all that much. Camera lens filters. Some are built in and some must be attached physically.

This whole topic came to light about a month ago. A good friend of mine was trying to take some smooth water shots near a local stream. She attached her camera to a tripod and placed the tripod near the stream. She then set her shutter speed for something really slow, such as a few seconds. Her goal was to get one of those shots where the water looks like silk. I’m sure you’ve seen them. When she asked me why her photos looked so bright, I responded that her camera was letting in too much light. We looked at her camera settings and discovered that there was indeed an issue.

Here’s what I saw. My friend’s shutter speed was set to a few seconds, like I said. I can’t remember the exact setting, but it was either three seconds or five seconds or something like that. Because of that setting, I knew right away that the camera would need to have a very small aperture and a low ISO, just to compensate for all the light the shutter was letting in. When I looked at the aperture setting, I found that it was actually pretty small, at something like f/11. I then took a look at the ISO setting. That was 100, which was as low as it was going to go with her camera. since she was in Shutter priority, her camera automatically made those other two settings.

We talked for a bit about what was going on. She asked me what could be done if the camera has already made all the necessary adjustments that were possible to keep the light out. “How do you keep even more light out?” she asked. “Put some sunglasses on the end of the lens,” I replied. I’m not sure she understood what I was talking about, so I quickly pulled up a page on Amazon.com. “Lens ND filters would do the trick,” I told her. If you aren’t aware, ND filters are used to cut the light that’s let into the end of a lens. They’re shaded, like sunglasses are, hence the suggestion I gave. “And look,” I said. “There’s an entire set of 10 for only around $30. That’s a pretty good deal. They’re not the best or what a professional would use, but they’d be perfect for you to use.”

By the way, this is how my friend’s photos were coming out. They were overexposed. There was just too much light coming into her camera and there was nothing she could do about it.

I’m writing this post for those of you who don’t know anything about lens filters. When I first heard about them years and years ago, I was flabbergasted. I was like, “You’re trying to tell me that you can twist little pieces of glass on the end of an already impressive lens and get all sorts of wonderful results from them? That’s incredible.” I’m still floored at the change lens filters can make. And the best part is, beginner sets are so cheap. Right now, you can pick a set of these Neewer lens filters up on Amazon for about $36. That’s for 10 filters! You can’t beat that. I don’t care what anyone says. It’s a great set to start out with. As you move on in your photography career, get better and learn more, feel free to spend all sorts of money. But for now, go with the less expensive set and then give them to a newbie or sell them on Ebay when you’re finished with them.

At this point, I think it would be best if I explained what these filters actually do. There are a few different kinds, so the options are expansive.

Magnifying Filters

I guess you could call these filters “eyeglasses for lenses” if you can call ND filters “sunglasses for lenses.” These filters are also known as “close-up” filters. They come in many different strengths and they allow you to capture photos that you would never have been able to capture without their use. Well, I suppose you could have purchased a macro lens, but let’s be real. We’re beginners here. Macro lenses are expensive.

Magnifying lenses allow you to bring your camera much closer to a subject than without their use. Back when I first began using them, I’d find myself in the woods for hours, sitting on the ground, leaning up against one dead log after another. It was the moss I was after. I used to bring my lens so close to that moss and then zoom in just a bit. I got so close I could smell it. I took some wonderful photos back then, all because of these filters. I had a set of four that cost just a few dollars. And the best part about the set that I had was that they were stackable, meaning, one could be screwed into another for a ultra magnified view.

Remember, these filters won’t replace a true macro lens if you want to take very high quality photography. They will, however, introduce you to the possibilities.

Neutral Density Filters

These are the ND filters I was talking about above. Screw one of these on the end of your lens and you’ll have much better luck taking those long exposure shots than you’d have without one. Also, if you suffer from flashes of light in the studio, these can help as well. They physically block light from coming into the lens, so they’re perfect for so many types of photography. If you’ve got a full frame camera and like to go out in the middle of the day for your photo shoots, you’ll likely want to take varying strengths of these lenses along. Those full frame sensors love to gobble up light and ND filters help keep images from being overexposed.

Protective UV Filters

If you go up to any experienced photographer and look at the end of their lens, you’ll likely see a filter that’s clear and not very noticeable at all. What’s surprising for many is that you’ll see a filter at all. What’s less surprising is that you’ll see a UV filter. If you asked the photographer why they have that filter attached to their lens, they’ll tell you that it’s to protect the glass. They’ll also tell you that it helps keep glare to a minimum, but really, most of them will share that the filter has protected their expensive lens in one way or another through the years. Whether it be from dropping the lens itself or from falling in the woods with camera in hand, an inexpensive filter like this can be worth it’s weight in gold. Literally. This filter protects the lens glass from dirt, scratches and moisture. It’s a must under dirty, muddy and windy conditions.

On the photographic side, UV filters can tame really clear skies. These types of skies can introduce a blue cast into photos and UV filters keep this cast to a minimum. It’s just one of those lenses you want to use all the time for one reason or another.

Polarizing Filters

I find this type of filter the most interesting out of all of them. This is for a few different reasons. First of all, these filters are adjustable. They twist on your lens. The effect they give depends on how much you twist them. The effect is completely visible, so it’s not like you can’t see it. It’s plain to the eye. Second, these filters can add a magical touch to your photos. Really. They can do some unique things that you didn’t think possible. Just the other day, I was taking some photos of a few trees and I was using one of these filters. With one shot, the trees looked green and normal. What you’d expect them to look like. For the next shot, I turned this filter and the trees had a much more brown/orange hue. It was so cool. I still haven’t decided which style I like best. They were both good.

Polarizing filters reduce reflections and saturate colors. They can add depth to an image. And as I said above, they rotate so you can get the perfect shot. If I weren’t using any other filter, I’d use this one almost all the time outdoors because they’re simply so good at keeping down glare, making skies blue and just bringing out the colors of the scene.

FLD (Florescent Light Daylight Filters)

You’ll know these filters when you see them. They’re pink. They stand out. This type of filter was extraordinarily popular back in the days of film cameras. Most cameras back then were set up for daylight photography. When a photographer went inside to take photos under florescent lighting, they get a weird looking color cast. Because of this, they needed something to compensate for that color cast to make the resulting picture look normal again. This filter does that.

Today’s cameras have either manual or automatic settings for white balance, so we really don’t have to concern ourselves with issues like this anymore. The camera does the compensation itself. Today, most photographers use this filter for some sort of special effect. It turns photos pink. Personally, I would incorporate any special effect like this during post-processing, but to each his own. This isn’t the most popular filter on the planet, but I think it’s important for you to learn about it because you’ll see it all over the place when you’re out there looking for filters or filter sets.

I hope this brief overview of camera lens filters has helped. On the next sunny day, I plan on going outside to take a few sample shots with and without filters for you, so you can see what’s going on with each of them. At least with the polarizing, magnifying and ND filters, anyway. I’ll add those photos to this post. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below. You may also ask any questions you’d like in the discussion forum as well. Thanks for reading!

Part of becoming a proficient photographer is learning when to use certain features that your camera and lens offer. I can remember back to one of the best tricks I ever learned. It was a long time ago when someone told me that I could lock an auto focus position by pointing at an object with my camera and then holding the shutter button down half way to let the auto focus do its job. Then, I would keep the button half way pushed and after that, I’d be able to walk around and point the camera and anything I wanted to. When I was ready, I could simply continue pressing the shutter button to take the photo. This is really handy in situations where you’d like a specific depth of field or when your camera’s auto focus doesn’t want to lock onto an object. I use this trick all the time.

In today’s post, I’d like to discuss a few circumstances when you’d probably want to switch your lens over from the all too popular auto focus mode to manual mode. Instead of fighting with your camera when it’s acting up, it’s important to understand when to change tactics. I know part of what I share below is very rudimentary for some, but I feel it can be quite helpful to many.

Moving Objects

If you’re an action photographer and you take photos at dance recitals, soccer games, polo matches or anything similar to what I just mentioned, you might want to consider abandoning your auto focus and give manual focus a try. The reason for this is because auto focus likes to “hunt” for something to focus on. I can tell you from experience, focus hunting is one of the most annoying things in the world to have to deal with. If you’re tracking a moving object and you happen to move from that object for a moment while your camera is attempting to focus, you may lose the shot. The camera will try to focus on something else on an entirely different plane. If you’re using manual focus and have already focused on the subject and are tracking it, there’s no way you’ll lose that focus if you meander off course. All you’ll need to do is catch up to whomever or whatever is moving and resume taking your photographs. Also, because the range of focus will be so small at that point in time, if you do have to refocus at all, it will be just a tiny twist of your lens.

Low Light & Contrast

If you’re attempting to auto focus on something that’s got very little contrast, you’ll likely have a tough time getting the object zeroed in correctly. Cameras simply don’t like to grab onto things they can’t recognize. Objects with little contrast aren’t very recognizable. The reason for this is because cameras use contrast among edges as the primary element behind their capabilities of focusing. It’s the measurable distance between light to dark that does it. If something is smooth or bland and doesn’t have those edges, you may be out of luck.

There are actually two fixes for this situation. First, you can do what I mentioned above, if you’re set on using auto focus mode. You can swing your camera to the left or right and push the shutter button down half way on some other object. As long as that object is on the same plane, you should be able to keep your finger on the shutter button and move back to the dull looking object and continue taking the photo. If you’d like to try out manual focus mode, you can do the same thing. Move off the object, focus on something else on the same plane and then move back to the object in question to capture it.

If you’re in a low light situation, you’re likely going to be dealing with a low contrast scene as well. Edges can’t show clearly in low lighting. To deal with this, you can follow some of the spectacular tips I shared in this post or you can simply use manual focus to get the sharpest shot possible. Either way, you’re probably going to have to follow some low light photography tips, so go ahead and click through to that post.

Auto + Manual Focus

If you’re photographing stationary objects and are taking multiple photos of each object, you only need to focus once on each one. Sometimes, auto focus is better for this type of thing, especially if whatever it is you’re photographing is far away. It’s tricky to manually focus on something that’s in the distance. Problems arise though when you have drastic lighting changes during the same shoot. If the light changes enough, your camera may want to change things up a bit to refocus on what it thinks the “new” scene is. Of course, the object you’re trying to capture hasn’t moved, it just seems like it moved. To avoid this refocusing, auto focus first and then switch over to manual focus. That way, you’re removing an entire element from the setup of the shot that doesn’t even need to be dealt with anymore.

Again, I know the information I shared in this post is basic, but I do hope you can use it and possibly expand upon it in a useful way. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!

One of the most basic questions people ask when they’re ready to purchase a DSLR camera is whether a full frame sensor is better than a cropped sensor. I suppose they can ask that question backwards as well because everyone has their own priorities. The word “better” is subjective.

In today’s post, I’d like to first identify what a camera sensor is and then after that, I’ll talk a bit about the differences between cropped and full frame sensors. Finally, I’ll discuss some of the pros and cons of each type. Believe it or not, there truly are some characteristics that matter, depending on what your goal with photography is.

What is a Camera Sensor?

An image sensor is the part of a camera that can be considered the brain. Or part of the brain. It’s the piece of technology that detects stimuli from the outside world (the scene) and translates that stimuli into something the rest of the camera can understand. Once the camera understands the information the sensor is transmitting to it, the camera can create an image. In a more specific sense, the sensor converts light waves into signals, or small bursts of signals, that the rest of the camera can use. As you can imagine, there’s a heck of a lot of technology that goes into making a sensor and while I’m sure there are books written on the subject, I’ll leave this definition here.

Functionally, the sensor sits behind the mirror, which sits behind the lens. When you take a photo, the mirror flips up to expose the sensor. It’s the sensor that captures the light in the scene. If you’ve ever removed your lens and looked inside of your camera, it’s the mirror you’re looking at, not the sensor. You’d have to manually lift the mirror to expose the sensor.

Full Framed & Cropped Sensors

While there are many different types of sensors out there that come in a variety of sizes (based on manufacturer), I’ll be discussing the two “types” that you’ll hear of the most. These two are generally called full frame and cropped. Full frame sensors are the same size as a 35mm film frame. So if you remember back to the days of most photographers using film and then remember back to what those frames in the film looked like, you’ll have a good idea of the size of a full frame sensor.

Cropped sensors are smaller than full frame sensors. If you use Photoshop, just think about cropping an image. By cropping, you’re removing area from a photo. The same is true when it comes to cropped sensors. Some of the sensor has been removed, for the lack of a better way to explain this. Basically, they’re just smaller sized sensors.

When you compare the sizes of full frame to cropped sensors, it’s helpful to use something called a crop factor. The crop factor is the ratio between sensor sizes. If you’re starting off with a cropped Canon APS-C sensor, you can say that a full frame sensor is 1.6 times larger than it. You would just multiply the size of the sensor by 1.6 and end up at 35mm. If you were starting off with a full frame sensor and you’d like to find out the size of a micro four thirds sensor that has a crop factor of 2, you’d simply divide 35mm by 2 and you’d have your result.

There are a few truths when it comes to sensor size. In general, when you’re out shopping for a camera, you’ll find that cameras with full frame sensors cost more. That’s just the way it is. It’s like a sliding scale when it comes to this too. The smaller the crop factor, meaning, the larger the sensor, the more expensive the camera. So it you’re looking for something on the less expensive side, check out those smaller sensor cameras. And finally, remember that all cropped sensor sizes aren’t the same. Some have a crop factor of 2, some have a crop factor of 1.5, 1.6 and even 1.3. The closer you get to 1, the closer you get to a full frame sensor. The sizes depend on who makes the camera. Each manufacturer has the favorites. Remember, these rules aren’t hard and fast, they’re merely guidelines.

The Goods & Bads of the Cropped Sensor

Cost

I shoot with a camera that has a cropped sensor. I chose the camera, which happens to be a Canon Rebel T7i, for very specific reasons. There are pros and cons to both cropped and full frame sensor sizes and in these next two sections, I’ll discuss a few of them.

First of all, as I mentioned above, cameras that use cropped sensors cost less. I don’t sell my photography. I mostly use it for blogging and things like that. Mostly posting online. I don’t think I’ve ever printed out one of my photos. Well, back in 2005 I did, but I don’t think that counts. To me, a camera with a cropped sensor is better, simply because of the price. Is it better all around for everyone? Probably not, but it’s better for my specific uses. This price thing is a huge consideration for many people and it’s the reason Canon, Nikon and the others don’t only sell top of the line, full frame cameras. There’s a lot of middle ground that people live on.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I paid $749 for my camera body, which was and is a lot of money. If someone tells you that $749 isn’t a lot of money, you’ll know that they’re fooling themselves. Even for a camera, for $749, I better be getting a lot. So, it’s not like cropped sensor cameras are cheap, it’s just that they cost less than full framed ones.

Focal Distance

Focal distance is the distance between the lens and the sensor inside of the camera. If you’re using a full frame sensor camera with a 100mm lens, the scene through the camera appears just as it should – one that’s being viewed through a 100mm lens. Now, if you put that same lens on a cropped sensor camera with a crop factor of 1.6, when you look through the camera, the scene will appear as if it’s being view through a 160mm lens. So, the bottom line is, it’s possible to get more distance out of a camera with a cropped sensor than with a full framed one. It’s not better quality distance, but it is more distance, which may be important to some folks. Especially those who are trying to save money on lenses. Zoom lenses can get really pricey and getting more bang for the buck, so to speak, can be exciting.

I went through a phase where I was really into wide angle photography. I bought myself an 11mm wide angle lens and I had all sorts of fun with it. I told everyone I knew that I was shooting with an 11mm lens and got a bunch of oohs and aahs. My friends were impressed. It wasn’t until later that I realized that while I was using an 11mm lens, I wasn’t exactly shooting 11mm shots. Since I was using a camera with a cropped sensor, I learned that my 11mm photographs were actually (11mm x 1.6 crop factor) around 18mm. I’m sure you can imagine my disappointment. But still, they were great photos and I had a lot of fun.

While you get some free distance on the telephoto side, you lose side distance on the wide angle side. Wide angle lenses can be expensive too and you’ll need to think about what type of photography you’re truly interested in. People these days can easily spend more money on lenses than they spend on their camera bodies, so this is an important consideration.

Sensitivity

There’s one thing that cropped sensors are really good at. Actually, they’re good at this, but could be better. That’s dealing with a lot of sunlight. Since the sensors are smaller than their full sized counterparts, they don’t absorb as much light. This can be helpful when doing a lot of outdoor photography. You generally won’t need any type of filter to cut down on the abundant sunshine. Now, I say that these sensors could be better in sunlight because I’ve taken lots of outdoor photos that were overexposed. No camera or sensor is perfect and you’ll always need to make tweaks to the settings on the camera for the best shot.

The Goods & Bads of the Full Frame Sensor

Low Light

Full frame sensors are like sponges; they soak up light. Where is this helpful? In dark and low light situations, such as those indoors at performances, weddings, birthday parties or any other event that’s not in full sunlight or outside. If you’re either a professional photographer or an amateur who is interested in engaging in low light photography, you’ll likely need to pay the extra money and go with a camera that uses a full frame sensor. Compensating for low light with a cropped sensor doesn’t yield the best result. You can slow down the shutter speed, which can cause camera shake or blur, increase the aperture size, which can cause a shallow depth of field or increase the ISO value, which can introduce noise and grain into your images. The easiest and best way to deal with a lack of light is to increase sensor size. Simply put, with a larger sensor, there’s more surface area for the light to touch.

The Math

I don’t know why I get hung up on this so much, but I really don’t like having to calculate the true focal distance I’m shooting at with my cropped sensor camera. As I mentioned above, if I’m taking photos with my 11mm wide angle lens, the fact that I’m not really at 11mm is always in the back of my head. For fun photography, this doesn’t really matter, but I’ve been in situations where the scene called for a specific capture. I like to grab lenses and go and when I’m dealing with something that’s important, I always need to do the math to make sure I’m taking the correct lens along with me. Remember, the lens focal distance needs to be multiplied with the crop factor on cropped sensor cameras to get the true distance. With full frame sensors, you know that whatever it is that’s written on the lens is what you’re shooting with. That’s pretty easy to live with.

Great Wide Angle Quality

Let’s say that I really wanted to get the true 11mm wide angle shot with my cropped sensor camera. What would I have to do? Attach a 7mm wide angle lens to it. Have you ever seen what the glass looks like on some 7mm wide angle lenses? I have and I can tell you that when you take photos with these things, you’re going to get distortion. Much more than is anticipated, all because I had to compensate for the cropped sensor.

With full frame sensors, you can take the wide angle shots and not have to compensate for anything, which may lead to less lens distortion. Of course, a lot of distortion can be corrected in post processing, but it’s much better to avoid it at the source.

Well, there certainly are a lot of considerations to take into account when trying to decide on getting a cropped sensor or a full framed sensor camera. In reality, I think it boils down to price for many of us. Most of us simply aren’t willing to pay for a camera that uses a full frame sensor, especially since cameras that use cropped sensors perform so well. The information I shared above is good to know though, because as your photography skills grow and the time comes for you to upgrade your camera body, you can put this knowledge to good use. If you have any questions regarding today’s post, please let me know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

I’m not sure which I prefer more, using the viewfinder or Live View with my Canon DSLR camera. I’ve owned many models in the Rebel line and which option I choose totally depends on the situation, and to be honest, my mood. Sometimes, when I’m trying to be creative, I’ll use the viewfinder to capture my photos. I feel like I can move around and see things better. If I’m using a tripod though, it’s Live View all the way. The reason for this is that Live View offers a few different features that the viewfinder doesn’t. And by the way, when I use the phrase “Live View,” I’m talking about using the LCD screen on the back of the camera to compose a photograph. In essence, it’s a really big viewfinder.

In today’s post, I’d like to discuss two features of Live View that can help considerably with your photography. If you’re like me and enjoy setting up a shot with a tripod, you’ll want to know about these things. They’re perfect for when you use manual focus because they help you get into your shot with as much precision as possible.

The two features I’ll discuss below have to do with zooming into a scene by a magnification of 5x or 10x and also where the focus area will actually be. You may already be familiar with the Live View magnification feature, but I’m almost certain you’ve never heard of the focus area part, so please read on.

Magnifying in Live View

I’ll go through a scenario here to help you better understand what’s happening. I’m going to set my camera up on a tripod and then set the camera to Live View modes, so the rear LCD screen shows the scene with my subject in it. To switch a Canon camera from viewfinder mode to Live View mode, I’ll press the small button on the rear of the camera that sits above the LCD screen. My T7i has a picture of a camera on it.

After that, I should see my scene. I’ll change my lens setting from auto focus to manual focus and then zoom in on what I’d like to take a photo of.

Now, through the LCD screen, it’s sort of tough to see whether the image is in focus or not and since I’m using manual focus, which is quite common in these scenarios, it’s up to me to make sure the scene is in focus. If I was using auto focus, I’d feel more confident that the camera was doing the focusing, but then again, if I were using auto focus, I wouldn’t have the flexibility that I have with manual focus. Since I want that flexibility, I’ll need to find a way to make sure the subject is sharp.

Canon cameras have a digital magnification feature that allows us to enlarge the view of the subject via the LCD screen, without touching the lens at all. For many of Canon’s cameras, this magnification comes in two steps; one at 5x magnification and the next at 10x, but some start at 6x and go all the way to 16x. As you can imagine, magnifying by these amounts can give you a very clear idea of what’s in and out of focus. To magnify a scene, or to reduce the magnification level, simply press the + button that sits in the upper right corner of the back of the camera. Pressing the button once increases the magnification by one setting and pressing that same button again increases the magnification by another step. Pressing it a third time brings it back to its original setting, which is 1x.

After pressing that button, it’s possible to see the subject clearly and continue on with adjusting the manual focus. When I’m ready, I can press the shutter button to capture the image.

Magnifying the Box

As you may have noticed, the rear LCD screens of many Canon cameras display a white box, usually at its center by default. This box can be moved in any direction by pressing the arrow keys on the back of the camera.

When the Live View screen is magnified as I discussed above, the visible area of the scene is displayed inside of that white box. Press the magnify button once and the white box grows in size a bit. Press it twice and the scene is magnified by 5x. Press it a third time and the scene is magnified by 10x.

As I move that box around the rear of the LCD screen, the visible area changes. That’s the area that will be in focus, whether using manual or auto focus. So to simplify, the area inside of the white box is what’s focused on and is shown while the scene is magnified.

There’s a small issue here. When the camera lens is in auto focus mode, the white box in the LCD screen can only move so far. If you try to push it around, you’ll notice that it can never reach the edge of the screen. This is troublesome if you’re doing some sort of a creative shot and need to magnify something that sits all the way towards the edge of the scene. How can we get around this limitation?

The answer is to switch the lens over to manual focus. If I do that and then try to move the white box to the edge of the screen, I’ll find that it does, in fact, move all the way over. And then, if I magnify, I’ll see that whatever it is inside of that white box is now visible for me to focus on.

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I hope I clearly explained how to both magnify a scene using the digital magnification feature of Live View for Canon DSLR cameras as well as how to overcome the auto focus “white box” limitation on the same. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

I’ve been working with cameras and lenses for quite a few years now and to this day, I still have a battle raging inside of me. Which is better, a zoom lens or a prime lens? And what’s worse, as I sit here and type, I can’t give you a definitive answer. Both options are really good and both options serve their own purposes. I guess it boils down to what you need your lens for and what you plan on shooting.

In today’s post, I’d like to cover a few things. First, I’ll explain the difference between prime and zoom lenses and then after that, I’ll offer up some opinions on what each type of lens is good for. By default, if one lens is good for one thing, the other isn’t as good, so I won’t even bother telling you what each lens isn’t good at. Well, maybe I’ll touch on that a little bit, but I won’t dwell on it.

The purpose of this post is to give an initiation of sorts to newer, less experienced photographers or individuals who may just be entering the industry now. I can remember back when I first began learning about lenses and I recall the feeling of being overwhelmed. It’s easy to become overwhelmed at that stage and the sheer number of opinions coming from each and every direction makes things downright unenjoyable. My goal today is to help you make a decision when it comes to lens choice. Many people simply have no idea why they’re using what they are and it’s my hope to clarify a few things.

Prime Lenses Versus Zoom Lenses

Okay, here’s the deal. A prime lens is a lens that has a fixed focal length and a zoom lens is a lens that has a variable focal length. This length I’m referring to here is generally referred to in millimeters (mm). This is the “mm” in the statements you here out there, such as, “I’m picking up a sweet 50mm prime lens tomorrow.” Or, “My friend tells me his 50-300mm zoom lens is the best he’s ever owned.” Lots of beginning photographers haven’t yet learned what the mm that’s written on the side or front of a lens means, so I hope this helps.

So what is focal length and how does it differ between these two lenses? Well, focal length certainly isn’t how long the physical lens is. That’s what many folks think and it’s not true. What focal length is, is the distance from the sensor of the camera to the point in the lens where light rays converge to create a sharp image. So basically, is simple terms, the “mm” that’s written on a lens means that the distance from a certain point in a lens to the actual sensor in the camera is a set value. This value can either be fixed, as in a prime lens or change, as in a zoom lens.

If you’ve ever used a camera before that had a zoom lens attached to it, you may have noticed something very interesting happen as you zoomed in and out. As you zoom in, the, what’s called the “angle of view” gets narrower and narrower. Objects in the scene also become larger and larger, or as what’s referred to in the camera world, “magnified.” These characteristics are true for longer focal lengths. So if you compared a 50mm lens to a 300mm lens, the 300mm lens would have a much narrower angle of view and the objects that are seen through the lens would be rather large and magnified. Conversely, the 50mm lens would have a much less magnified view and you’d see a lot more of the scene. The angle of view would be much wider.

What’s So Great About a Zoom Lens?

I’ll admit, I use a zoom lens. I’ve tried many in my day and I’ve settled on the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. I’m sure I’ll pick up another type of zoom with different characteristics one day, but I get so much versatility with this one, it’s difficult to imaging why I would do this. Most likely, I’ll buy something larger and more powerful.

The reason I use my zoom lens is simple; it can do almost anything. I can take fairly wide shots and I can zoom in and magnify something so it appears very up close. Since I do a lot of outdoor photography, this versatility is important. I don’t like changing lenses too much because it’s sort of a pain and dust and dirt can make its way into the camera every time the lens is removed (especially outdoors), so I like to keep that to a minimum. But really, it’s the zooming I like. Even for the same subject, I’ll take some wide shots of it as well as some close up ones. And I don’t even have to move or change position while I’m doing that. Inventing the zoom lens was a wonderful thing.

There are a few issues with zoom lenses though. They can be quite large and cumbersome at times. They have lots of moving parts that can malfunction, flat out break or not work as well as you’d expect them to. For instance, on my Canon zoom, the lens tends to zoom itself in when I don’t want it to during photo shoots where I’m facing the ground from up above. This is called lens creep or zoom creep and it’s so annoying. The lens barrel basically extends itself due to its own weight.

Zoom lenses are versatile though. You have to give them that. They’re great for landscape and portrait shots and all you need is one lens most of the time. This is another problem with them though. They tend to make the photographer somewhat lazy. Sure, I’ll admit that photographers look really cool when they’re operating those big lenses, but when was the last time you saw a photographer moving around the scene, trying to get the best shot, with a zoom lens? They do that, but not as much as they would if they were using a prime lens. You can pretty much sit down in one spot all night and take all different types of photos with a zoom. I’m not sure how creative those photos would be though.

What’s So Great About a Prime Lens?

Prime lenses don’t zoom. You are the zoom. If you want to take a shot that’s closer up to the subject, you have to walk nearer to that subject. This is quite the surprise to many people after they’ve gotten used to using a zoom lens. I’ve seen friends use a prime lens for the very first time after using a zoom lens for years and instinctively go to twist the lens barrel. Of course, there was no twisting to be had. The lens didn’t zoom.

Prime lenses have not nearly as much versatility as zoom lenses do. If this is the case, it begs the question, why on earth would anyone use a prime lens? There are actually many reasons, which I’ll explain below.

Let me make a comparison before I go into my explaining though. Picture owning a really nice and sporty BMW car. If you aren’t aware, BMWs handle the road like they’re on rails. They’re stable and firm and you can take corners like it’s nobody’s business. Try driving a BMW and you’ll see what I’m talking about. A corner that a Honda Accord can handle at 40mph, the BMW can handle at 100mph. It’s an incredible feeling.

Imagine being at the car dealer as you’re purchasing the BMW. The salesman asks you what type of tires you’d like on the car. He says, “Well, the big “all-purpose” tires can deal with so many situations. They’re good in the snow, they’re fine on sand, they’re comfortable because they’re so large (they can absorb any bump in the road) and you won’t even notice you’re traveling in the car because they’re quiet.” You’re thinking, “Wow, I really want those all-purpose tires. They sound great for so many situations.” Since you’re curious though, you ask about the other option. “Well,” says the salesman. “The other option is a more streamlined tire. It’s thin and firm and it’s not a good snow tire. With these tires, you’ll feel every bump in the road and they’re sort of loud. You will, however, have the ability to handle corners at twice the speed of the all-purpose tires and the overall speed rating increases dramatically with these tires as well.”

So, which type of tire would you choose? The “all-purpose” tires or the “sport” tires. By the way, the all-purpose tires are comparable to the zoom lens and the sport tires are comparable to the prime lens. Many people like the sport tires because they want the feeling of the road. Much like prime lenses that force you to move around your subject for the most creative types of shots. Like sport tires’ handling abilities, prime lenses have apertures that can open up very wide (f/1.4 to f/2.8), which is great for low light situations (performance). They’re also extremely clear. They’re small, compact and light. They’re easy to carry around.

Large apertures are great for creativity and performance because they can handle low light situations much more elegantly than zoom lenses with smaller maximum aperture sizes can. With a larger aperture, you can use a faster shutter speed with a lower ISO setting. This means that you’ll have less grain in your photos and less camera shake or blur. Also, you can achieve a wonderfully shallow depth of field and a very pretty bokeh with a large aperture setting, so this is a definite consideration when deciding on what type of lens you’d like to purchase. Personally, I like large apertures for the amount of light the let in. That’s a huge selling point.

In the past, it was considered common knowledge that prime lenses took higher quality photos when compared to zoom lenses. The reason for this was because the prime lens contained fewer lens elements inside the lens barrel. The lenses were simpler and because of their “single focal point” optimization; their resulting photos were visibly sharper than their zoom counterparts.

It’s my understanding that these differences have been minimized over the past few years. Lens manufacturers have reduced any quality discrepancies between corner to corner sharpness and many zoom lenses today are comparable to many prime lenses at equivalent focal lengths. And in some cases, the zoom lens outperforms the prime lens, so this is something you should surely look into, if this is a consideration.

Overall, my advice is to own at least one great zoom lens and one great prime lens. As I told you above, I still can’t decide which is better, but I can’t imagine life without my zoom. I do want to pick up a high quality 35mm prime though. Perhaps I should start looking into that.

If you have any questions regarding this post, please don’t hesitate to leave them for me in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

If you haven’t noticed, I love writing posts that explain things. Really, the more intricate, the better. I enjoy analyzing the details of something and translating those details into what I think someone might understand. I don’t always meet the mark though because I have a tendency to get excited and rush, but I do try my best.

Through the years, I’ve come to realize that many folks out there aren’t all that interested in the details and that they simply want the result of whatever it is they’re engaged in. They aren’t interested in the understanding behind things. I get this. I used to be like this and I still am with some things. I guess it depends on the interest level. I mean, we all can’t walk around all day understanding every minute detail of everything. None of us would get anything done.

If you’re a photographer though, and one who is determined to become great, you need to learn a few basics. One of these basics has to do with focus. Now, I’m not talking about how to focus or the mechanics behind what your lens or camera does to make something look clear. What I mean is what focus itself is. This is the very most basic of basic knowledge when it comes to photography. If the concept of focus is understood early on, so much more will be clear later in life.

In today’s post, I’d like to briefly discuss the concept of focus. What it means to see something clearly through a lens versus what it means for that object to be seen with a blur. This is actually a very straightforward idea, so it shouldn’t take long. There are some key points though and I’ll try to explain them below.

What is Focus?

For this section, I’m going to try my hardest to give you a definition of focus that isn’t technical. I get tired of definitions no one can understand sometimes.

For a moment, let’s pretend you have poor eyesight and that you can’t see the letters in books clearly. If your eyesight is poor and you’ve never been able to see what those letter really look like, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s only when you put corrective glasses on that you understand what’s going on. So what is going on?

When something is blurry, or out of focus, there’s a transition between the edge of an object and a place where the object doesn’t exist. And that transition is smooth when it’s not supposed to be. The more something is out of focus, the greater the area of transition. Let’s pretend to expand the letters I’m talking about here so they appear really big, so we can take a close look at the edges in question. If a letter is in focus, the transition between the letter and the page it’s written on is sharp. It’s abrupt and it has lots of contrast. It’s like a cliff. One moment you’re standing on it and then, with just one step, you’ve fallen off.

Blur is like a hill. One moment you’re standing on it and you are still standing on it if you take one step. That step just brought you down in height a bit. And if you keep on walking, you’ll eventually make it to the bottom, but the transition was smooth. It’s like a gradient.

So that explains focus. In my own words, “clear focus is the amount of distinction that’s supposed to exist between the edge of an object with its background.”

Focus is a relative idea. It’s compared to other things in a scene. It represents the sharpness, contrast, detail and texture you might expect to see. But really, it’s the contrast that exists around the edge of an object or part of an object the most. And it’s the contrast that is supposed to exist if certain things are in alignment.

Focus, More Specifically…

There’s a big technical world out there that deals with focus. These are folks who are engineers, scientists, mathematicians and others who live their lives to study and created all types of things that have to do with optics and various machinery that use optics. It’s these people who have come up with a few definitions we can use to understand this area just a bit more.

Okay, here we go. “Focus” can also be referred to an image point. This is the point on an object where light converges. It’s the smallest point of clarity and really, if you were to try to look for this area, you wouldn’t be able to see it. It’s too small. Because it’s so small, people came up with another term called a blur circle. The reason an area can be referred to as a blur circle is because an image point by itself is virtually invisible. You would need multiple image points to see anything and anything in multiples has what’s referred to as spacial context. Think about it like this; an image point is one dimensional and a blur circle is two dimensional. So basically, it’s a single point compared to a flat plane. Sort of like a dot from a pencil drawn on a piece of paper compared to the entire piece of paper itself.

In order to see something, whether it be through our own eyes (lenses) or through a camera lens, we’ll need to view all the image points as they were meant to be viewed. Now, if our lenses are perfect and there are no aberrations in them, we will see those image points clearly. But if they’re not; if there are some waves or bends in the lenses that aren’t supposed to be there, some points will overlap with others, causing confusion and, yes, you guessed it, blur. Or, non-ideal focusing, as they say in the trade. This is why it’s so important to wear high quality glasses if you can’t see well and purchase high quality camera lenses if you’re planning on taking great photographs. It’s those lenses that matter most and the precision that goes into them during production.

In Closing

I don’t want to go nuts here trying to explain something that will have little impact on you while your out in the field with your camera, but I do want to impress upon you how important focus is and how it can affect your pictures. When you look through the viewfinder on your camera or at the LCD screen in the back of it, at first glance, your scene may appear to be in focus. It’s important that you confirm that it truly is though. Your eyesight needs to be clear and the scene must be viewed as closely as possible. You can use the magnification feature on your camera while using the LCD screen and you can also make adjustments to the diopter in the viewfinder if you wear glasses. The goal here to is achieve as much clarity in your scene as possible. All of what I wrote above should come into play. You won’t need to think about any of this because from the day we were all born, we’ve either seen the world as something that’s in focus or we’ve worn eyeglasses to help us see clearly. So special care needs to be taken to assist our cameras and lenses to see clearly as well. Because really, clear, in focus photographs and blurry ones are a world apart. Anyone can tell the difference very quickly.

I hope I thoroughly explained what focus is and how it can affect your photography. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!