Where to Focus - The Eyes Have It

Focus, when depth of field is not wide enough to bring everything into focus, or when wide depth of field is not desired, is not an easy task. Especially when shooting macro since the depth of field is extremely narrow. When photographing a subject that has a face, or something similar to a face, or at least has some eyes, make sure that the eyes are in focus. Even if you are highlighting some different feature, if the eyes are not in focus, the image just does not look right. Something seems, well, out of focus. Here is an example of a spider that I shot just yesterday:

Spider on Berry Bush

Her front legs are a bit out of focus. The berry's are out of focus. The background is out of focus on purpose so as not to be a distraction. Her eyes are in focus, so the image works.

For that image, the entire focus and subject is the spider. Sometimes, though, the focus needs to be a bit wider. For this shot of a sea turtle on the sand at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau I wanted some foreground in focus and for the turtle's body to be in focus, while blurring the background, so I had to pay close attention to my depth of field. Still, the single spot that I checked was the eyes.

Turtle at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

If your camera can zoom in to the image on the preview LCD, use it. If not, be a brutal editor on the computer. No sharpening is going to bring back the eyes.