Avoiding Out Of Focus Photos

[Ironwood]

Camera Lens like our eyes can only focus so close.  Just like eyes, different lens have a different Minimum Focus Distance.  Once you get closer to your subject than your minimum focus distance things begin to blur.  There are other things that can cause a blurred or out of focus photo.  However, one thing is certain. If you get closer to your subject than the Minimum Focus distance you will have a blurred photo.  Right now I will concerntrate on the Minimum Focal Distance.  Somewhere in your operators manual there should be specifications that will tell you the minimum focus distance of your camera.  If you can't find the specs you can always do a little experimenting.  Get close in on a subject and take a photo.  If the photo is out of focus, then back off some and take another photo.  Still blurry back off some more.  Continue until you find the distance where your photos will be sharp.  If when you take the first close photo, it's in good focus, move in closer.  Keep moving in until the photo starts to get out of focus.  Once you find how close your camera will focus just get no closer than that and your photos should come out good and sharp.

[mongrel]

Okay, I find my camera's minimum focus distance. My camera has a zoom feature, as most today do. If I stay beyond the minimum focus range can I zoom the image in with no loss of sharpness, or does the zoom feature simply tell the camera the object is now closer -- in other words, too close for good focus?

[Ironwood]

Mongrel as you zoom in your Minimum Focus distance increases.   :(  On most digital cameras when you push the shutter button down halfway the camera will automatically focus.  You should see the subject come into sharp focus.  If it doesn't you are probably to close. 

[mongrel]

Learn something new every day. Cool. Thanks.

If owner manuals for these things weren't written by Chinese lunatics using outdated Chinese/English dictionaries and a dull crayon, perhaps the owner of one of their products could decipher this info from the INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAME WITH THE CAMERA!

>:( >:( ;)

Rant over.

Thanks, that should help a lot.

[Doug]

My father- in - law was a professional photographer and when doing portraits if he wanted to get in close he had a string tied to the bottom of his camera at, about the location of, the film plane.  There was a knot tied in the string at the minimum focal distance.   If he pulled out the string and the knot touched the subject on the cheek he knew he was at the correct distance if not he was too close or not close enough and he would move the camera accordingly.  He was using roll film cameras but the results should be the same with a digital.

[Roaring Bull]

I remember the photographer doing that trick when taking school pictures when I was a kid.....usta wonder why

[Ironwood]

Doug, Bull,  What the photographer was doing with the string was making sure you were sitting or standing where he had the camera focused.  If you remember the photographer never looked through the camera viewfinder.  I'm sure he just said, "cheese" and released the shutter with a cable release, then said,  "Thank you.  Next!"  :D

The sting would work good with a point and shoot camera with a fixed lens, however zoom, and zoom macro lens are different critters.  As you zoom in (make the subject larger) your minimum focus distance increases.  Say at 4X zoom your minimum focus distance is 19 inches.  As you zoom on in say to 10X the minimum focus distance may increase to something like 30 inches.  Macro mode with zoom might go something like this.  At 1X the camera might focus down to 1/2 inch or so.  At 4X your minimum focus distance might be 2 inches but when you zoom on in to 10X you minimum focus distance might be as much as 9 inches.  You need to remember when in the Macro mode you can actually get outside of the cameras maximum focus range. 


Of course the above is just an example.  Each camera will vary.   

[Stumblin Wolf]

Another thing to try is take a picture of your object- say 3-4 feet from a knife for example. Then transfer to your computer and use paintshop to modify. I frequently will magnify with paintshop, then crop the photo to fit. Gives you a super sharp picture with no blurs. 

[pathfinder]

How far away is this paint shop? Will my cord reach? :D :D :D