Focused?

[ajrobertson]

<p>Is this image front focused? It seems to me that the grass in the lower right about 1 ft in front of her feet is sharp... she was moving but the shot was taken at 50mm, f2.0 and 1/640. should have froze the action right? I spot focused on her face , from about 12-16 feet away. My DOF calc shows near at 11.8ft and far at 13.2ft.<br>

Still working on the DOF concept and appreciate remarks concerning the focusing.<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/10214251</p>

<p>cheers.<br>

AJ</p>

[scrivyscriv]

<p>Yes it's front focused. <em>f/</em> 2 isn't a good choice for that situation since you can't hide any focusing errors in the DOF. f/4 might have saved it.</p>

 

[ajrobertson]

<p>Ok I can see that . What i cant understand is why it front focused at all if I spot focused on her face and the distance between the camera and her didn't change (appreciably).I guess it is possible that because the DOF is so narrow at f2, she could have moved a mere 12 inches further away and was beginning to become out of focus. for f/4 it shows a near of 11.2 and far of 14.1, so I guess 2 parts to my misunderstanding of the situation....</p>

<p>1. the fact that my spot focus didnt seem to set her within the DOF range<br>

2. if i went to f4, the near focus point of the DOF would have only changed approx. 6 inches or so.<br>

would that have made the difference? I guess the ultimate questions is what can I do, other than choose a smaller aperture, to make sure it isn;t front focused?<br>

this was after all a test at lower apertures for this reason, I appreciate your responses to what may be elementary questions.</p>

<p>cheers,<br>

AJ</p>

[johnw63]

<p>I see the long grass, on the lower left is sharp. It also seems here hair, on that side may be sharper than her face as well.<br>

So, the focus was more on the right side ( Her left ). I think some geometry with the focus plane is working against you. Did you focus and then move with her as she waked to the camera left ? Could it be it locked and then she moved enough to hit the front edge of focus before you fully pressed the shutter ? It looks like it focused on where she WAS, not where she IS, at the time of the shot.</p>

<p>I could very well be wrong.</p>

<p> </p>

[ajrobertson]

<p>Thank you John... I am trying to remember exactly what I did, but with your observations, and Robert's point about being unable to hide any focusing errors at f2, I would hazzard a guess that I focused and recomposed, which of course would change the plane as small as it is I'm learning... and maybe then this operator error showed up as obvious as it did... a lesson in large apertures. Wow, to paraphrase Robert ... "there's nowhere to hide!"<br>

Thank -you both. I'll try again and post if i still see problems.<br>

Aj</p>