One of the biggest headaches for many DSLR photographers, amateur or professional, is the “blurry image”.

I am not talking about blurring the background or foreground, or motion blur (which we will discuss in the next tip) etc. In those scenarios, your audience is naturally drawn to the part of the image that is in sharp focus while the rest of the image is blurred out. It’s good story telling - both you and your audience know what is important in your image.

On the contrary, many DSLR photographers encounter the “disaster blur” where nothing is in focus, or the wrong thing is in focus. Please don’t panic, or complain your camera is not good enough.

There are many reasons for the error. Perhaps, you used the wrong camera settings for aperture or shutter speed. Or, you simply used the wrong focus approach. For the latter, there are two quick solutions:

1 - Use single point auto focus

Many DSLR cameras boast their multiple focus points feature, as if the more the better. Therefore many photographers use multiple points auto focus when taking the photo. There’s a big problem when the focus point is automatically set on a tree in the foreground whereas you in fact would like to focus on your kid in the back. Using single point auto focus allows you to control your camera what to focus on.

2- Compose then focus, not the other way around

Many camera manuals talk about half push the shutter to focus first, and then recompose by pointing the camera to a slightly different direction. This is exactly why your image might be out of focus sometimes, especially when you use small f-stop value for shallow depth of field.

Do the other way around. Compose your image, and manually move your single point of focus onto your main subject. This is a much precise approach to achieve focus. It requires you to know your camera well and adjust the single focus fast.

What about eye auto focus with mirrorless cameras these days?

You might ask. Very good question.

In fact, you can forget about the above. Mirrorless cameras these days have done the job for you if your main subject are people (or animals). Early versions of mirrorless cameras still need some setup to get the eye auto focus to work.

Check out one of my personal blogs “what you need to know about eye auto focus” and how to set it up on Sony A7III. The good news is that in newer versions of mirrorless cameras, you don’ t even have to set it up. Just unpack the new camera from the box and click away.

I bet you, unless your subject is hiding behind bushes or tricky places with busy colors and patterns, 9 out of 10 times, you’ll nail the focus.

In fact, the eye auto focus in mirrorless cameras these days is essentially single point focus. The only difference between mirrorless and DSLR is that mirrorless cameras use software to track the single focus point, whereas DSLR camera users have to manually adjust the single focus point.

Caveat

This doesn’t mean you won’t get blurry images in mirrorless camera. Your sharp image depends not only on the correct focus, but also the correct camera settings, particularly aperture and shutter speed. A wide aperture with shallow depth of field, or slower shutter speed could definitely contribute to blurry images. Make sure to revisit the camera settings chapter to brush up your understanding. Whatever camera you use, practice, practice, practice! The more you practice, the more you’ll familiar with your camera, the faster you’ll be able to adjust settings, and the more likely you’ll be able to capture your split second photo opportunity.

I’ll share a tip later about Your Subject Is Out Of Focus. On Purpose! in the composition chapter to inspire you to be creative. That is absolutely not the excuse not learning about how to focus correctly first. Remember, always learn the rules before breaking them!

Learning to nail your focus is particularly important if you prefer candid style, as I outlined in the last chapter. I do action shots for more than half of the images for my kids, thanks to the single point auto focus.

Go back to Camera Settings and Techniques Chapter

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