Chapter 7
Using Focal Points to Tell a Story
In This Chapter
Determining your subject and focusing attention on it
Applying selective focus
Making good use of two focal points
In Chapter 3, I tell you how your camera and lens work together to achieve focus in an image. In this chapter, I discuss how to control what’s in focus in your composition and why this control is essential. You can enhance the sense of purpose or message in your photography by literally focusing on what’s important and controlling what your viewers focus on throughout the scene.
By creating primary and secondary focal points in your compositions, you can control the order and amount of time in which viewers look at the elements in a scene. You also can control your focus by eliminating distracting details that aren’t relevant to your message. I tell you everything you need to know about focal points in this chapter.
Finding Your Focal Point and Helping It Take Center Stage
When you approach a scene and decide to take a photograph, some reason drives you to make that decision. That reason is most likely going to be your subject. A subject gives purpose and meaning to a photograph — it’s the focus, or the star of the show. The exact point where you place your focus is your focal point. In most cases, your focal point is your subject or some part of your subject. Selecting a focal point provides a clear way of informing your viewers of what they’re supposed to be looking at. If you were focusing on the subject when taking the photograph, your viewers will focus on it when viewing the photograph.
In Figure 7-1, the dew-covered spider web is the subject of the photo. It not only provides life to the photo, but it also tells you (because of the dew) that the scene took place in the morning and creates an interesting effect by reflecting and refracting light. (You can read more about using light to tell your story in Chapter 10.) Without the web and the dew atop it, the blades of grass wouldn’t be very interesting, and I really wouldn’t have had a reason to take the photograph.
Figure 7-1: Morning dew settled on a web that’s covering the ground amid blades of grass.
The further an element is from the focal plane, the more blurry it will appear in your photograph. In Figure 7-1, for example, the blades of grass become blurrier as they get further away from the spider web. You have control over how far your focus reaches in front and behind the plane of focus. The distance your focus reaches is called depth of field (see Chapter 3 for more).
Selecting a focal point and manipulating depth of field gives you the ability to control which details are noticed and ignored by your viewers. Focal point and depth of field are major tools used to create your message in a photograph. Having a shallow depth of field (as I do in Figure 7-1) can cause your viewers to notice your focal point more clearly. In a composition with a great depth of field, your viewer may not even know which point contains the most focus because everything appears sharp in the scene. (Refer to the later section “Controlling depth of field” for more information.)
When choosing your focal point, ask yourself, “What is the story here?” and focus on that subject. After you’re in the habit of choosing your focal point without having to think too hard about it, you can consider other variables that help draw attention to your subject, which the following sections explain.
Making your focal point stand out
A successful composition appropriately reveals your subject to your viewer and sends the message you intended for the photograph. Making an element your focal point is a great first step in revealing it as the subject. Sometimes you may need to go even further in drawing attention to the subject, however. For instance, you may want to make clear that other elements in the scene are just playing supporting roles to help tell the story of the main subject. Here are some techniques (apart from making it the focal point) for making your subject stand out:
Use contrast to your advantage. A viewer’s eyes are drawn toward the highest point of contrast. If your subject is in focus and has more contrast than any other areas of the scene, it will stand out the most. Contrast is determined by how drastic the difference in tones or colors is. In Figure 7-2, the clouds in the foreground have more tonal contrast than any other elements in the frame. Chapter 10 explains more about understanding and controlling contrast.
Follow the rule of thirds. Placing your focal point or subject away from the edges or center of the frame assures that it’s more pleasing for the eyes to rest on. I explain this concept, referred to as the rule of thirds, in detail in Chapter 5. The subject in Figure 7-2 is positioned along the bottom third of the frame.
Eliminate competing elements. Using a shallow depth of field helps make your focal point stand out by blurring the other elements in the scene and thus softening their details. (See the later section “Controlling depth of field” for more info.)
If an element becomes so blurry that it’s no longer identifiable, it becomes negative space. Negative space is any area of the frame that doesn’t contain any elements, details, or relevant information. Surrounding your subject with negative space helps draw attention to the subject by eliminating competing elements.
Choose your moment wisely. Capturing a moment when something significant or recognizable is happening assures that your viewers can relate to why the photograph was created. The significant moment is known as the decisive moment, and it could be anything from a handshake to a revealing facial expression to the moment a salmon jumps into a grizzly’s mouth.
Combine these techniques to draw the most attention to your focal point. The more ways you make your focal point stand out, the easier it will be for a viewer to identify it as the subject.
Figure 7-2: Using multiple techniques to draw attention to your subject helps your viewers know what to look at.
Using your camera’s focus control to select your focal point
Having control over your focal point and where it’s placed in a scene is one of the most important aspects of creating compelling compositions. A proper focal point is natural, and viewers may take it for granted when executed perfectly. But a poorly executed focal point stands out like a fly in Chardonnay.
Be sure that you’re familiar with your camera and lenses and how the focusing controls work on them. Your digital point-and-shoot camera may or may not allow you to focus both automatically and manually. Refer to your owner’s manual to find out about your focus control and how to use it. In the following sections, I provide some general information on how to use each type of control.
Going with manual focus
If you have a digital SLR with manual focus, you can focus on your focal point by rotating the focus ring on the lens until the plane of focus is positioned on the point of your choice.
Manual focus is great when you’re close to your subject and can easily see the detail in your focal point. However, if your subject is fairly small in your viewfinder, determining when your focus is spot on may be difficult. You can solve this problem by switching to auto focus mode (if your camera and lens allow it) and letting modern technology take over for your eyes.
Trying out auto focus
To use auto focus with most digital SLR cameras and lenses, you place your focusing sensor (the rectangular graphic in the center of your viewfinder) on your desired focal point and press down the shutter release button halfway. You’ll hear the lens elements shifting back and forth until focus is achieved. After the focus is set, you can press the shutter release down all the way and take the photograph.
If your auto focus sensor exists in the center of your viewfinder, and you don’t want to place your subject in the center of your frame, you need to lock your focal point before composing the shot. (Centering your subject makes for a weak composition and goes against the rule of thirds; check out Chapter 5 for additional information.) Most cameras offer different options for auto focus. Refer to your owner’s manual to find out which setting enables you to lock your focal point.
Here’s the general idea on how to lock your focal point: Position your auto focus sensor on your subject and press down and hold the shutter release button halfway. After the shutter release button is pressed down halfway, the focal point is locked on the subject, and you can move the camera to compose the scene in the way you see fit.
Some cameras contain more than one auto focus sensor point in the viewfinder. In this case, you can scroll through the points until you get to the one that’s closest to where your subject is in your composition. Still, the point may not be placed exactly on the subject, so you’ll have to perform the locking technique described earlier.
Determining how much of the frame your focal point should cover
The closer your subject is to the camera lens, the more of the frame it covers. And the larger the subject becomes, the less significant the other elements in the frame become. (If you’re wondering about those less significant supporting elements, flip to Chapter 9 for a complete discussion of your composition’s background.)
The message you would like to convey with a photograph requires a certain balance of the significance of the subject and its supporting elements as well as the spatial relationships between them. So focusing on someone who’s much closer to the lens than the other people in the scene creates a drastic separation in the importance of that person and the others. Having a more subtle separation between the subject and the other elements brings more relevance to the other elements. Check out the next two photos for examples of the two scenarios.
In Figure 7-3, the boy who’s on the paddleboard is much closer to the camera than the person who’s diving down into the water. It’s clear that the boy is the subject and the diver is a supporting element.
Figure 7-3: Using a single subject and a secondary focal point.
However, in Figure 7-4, the two main elements are equidistant from the camera. Each is in focus and each provides an equal level of importance to the message. As a result, the relationship between the boy and the bird is the message. The pelican is staring at the boy, and the boy is playfully peeking from behind the piling. The photo shows a sort of standoff between the two. I represented the boy and the bird equally in the composition in order to cause the viewer to look back and forth between the two in the spirit of the standoff.
Figure 7-4: Using spatial relationships to show two subjects.
Enhancing Your Message with Selective Focus
When you look at something, your eyes focus on that one point, and you technically see two of everything else in your field of view. (I tell you more about how eyesight works in Chapter 2.) To test this theory, place your finger 12 inches from your eyes and focus on it while noticing the elements behind it. Apart from your finger, you see two of everything. Typically, you won’t pay any mind to the elements that you aren’t focusing on. You concentrate on what’s in focus, basically ignoring everything else even though you know it’s there. If you scan your focus to another element, you’re then ignoring the previous one. The point? Your eyes can focus on only one thing at a time.
In reality, your eyes can jump from one focal point to another, adjusting the sharpness of the elements around you. However, when you view a photograph, you can see only what the photographer lets you see. He hides and reveals things using focus. More specifically, the photographer uses selective focus to hide background and foreground elements. Selective focus means using a shallow depth of field and placing your focal point on something to make it stand alone regardless of its surroundings. (See the later section “Controlling depth of field” for more info.) Photographers use selective focus to tell people exactly what to look at in a photograph.
In Figure 7-5, for example, I used selective focus to highlight the figure in the stained glass window. Nothing else in the scene really caught my eye, but I was interested in the way the figure in the glass was lit. A streetlight from outside the church was shining directly behind her and affecting her alone, giving her prominence. Through the use of selective focus, I made the subject even more prominent in the scene.
Figure 7-5: The use of selective focus leaves no doubt as to what the subject is.
Photographers often use selective focus to reveal a specific detail. For instance, you often see it used in stock photography of an open book or a newspaper, where the technique forces viewers to read one word. The other words on the page are soft in focus and aren’t as easy to read as the one that’s used as the focal point.
In order to achieve selective focus on a small detail like a newspaper’s text, use a macro lens (or set your point-and-shoot to macro), which enables you to get close to your subject and still achieve focus. (Turn to Chapter 3 to find out more about the macro lens.) In situations when your subject isn’t so small, you can pull off selective focus by using a telephoto lens and shooting with a wide-open aperture. The upcoming section “Controlling depth of field” tells you more aperture and focal length.
Getting creative with your focal points
The way you choose your focal point can reveal a lot about your subject and its relationship to other elements in the scene. When taking a portrait of someone, it’s generally nice to make their eyes the focal point. After all, it’s human nature to look at people’s eyes when communicating with them — the eyes are known as a “window to the soul.” However, when you’re trying to tell a story, the eyes may not always be the best place to focus. Try focusing on a person’s hand touching something or making a gesture.
Imagine a scene where a boy is holding flowers behind his back and a girl is in front of him trying to peek over his shoulder. When taking this photo, you can focus on her eyes to reveal the expression she’s making, or you can focus on the flowers to reveal what all the fuss is about. If you have time, try it both ways. If you have even more time, focus on the calendar on the wall in the background that has one of the days circled in red, which could suggest that the viewer is seeing an anniversary celebration.
Panning is a creative technique that isolates your focal point in a way that shows motion. This technique is a great way to make your subject stand out and tell a story about motion or speed. Panning is achieved by setting your exposure to have a slow shutter speed and physically moving your lens with a subject that’s in motion. If you move at the same speed and distance as the subject and in the same direction, you’ll get a fairly sharp image of it while everything that wasn’t moving comes out blurry.
In Figure 7-6, I used the panning technique (which I tell you even more about in Chapter 16) to isolate the man riding the motor vehicle while every other element in the frame is affected by motion blur. In this image, I set my shutter speed to 1/30 second.
Figure 7-6: Using the panning technique to focus on a point and reveal that it’s in motion.
Controlling depth of field
Traditionally, photographers control depth of field using two methods: aperture and focal length. Aperture controls the amount of light that’s let in at a given time of exposure. The more light that’s let in, the less depth of field you have. In Chapter 3, I discuss how differences in focal length and your distance to the subject cause your depth of field to change due to magnification. The more magnification that occurs, the less depth of field you have in your composition.
Your focal length is determined by the size of your lens. In the 35mm digital SLR format, you have the following lens options:
Wide-angle lens: Any lens that’s 35mm or less is considered a wide-angle lens. The wider the lens, the more depth of field it provides at a given aperture. In other words, using a wide-angle lens provides less magnification in your scene’s elements and results in greater depth of field. In fact, it’s often difficult to cause your background to go soft when shooting with a wide angle lens. To do so, you must get very close to your subject and have a great distance between it and the background. Typically a wide-angle lens is used when you want to reveal details about the scene and when a large depth of field works in your favor.
Compare Figure 7-7 to Figure 7-8 and notice how shooting with a wide-angle lens increases the amount of scene you see and the amount of detail in it. Figure 7-7 shows a wake boarder jumping off a ramp; the wide angle lens worked great to show how much distance he went after hitting the ramp and reaching his peak. A telephoto lens would have shown more detail in the wake boarder but would have eliminated the important details surrounding him. In a close-up shot, you’d have no idea how far he jumped or that he hit a ramp to get airborne.
Normal lens: A 50mm lens is considered to be a normal lens. This option is neither wide, nor telephoto, and it’s great for representing scenes as closely to the way you see them when taking the photograph.
Long lens: Anything above 70mm starts to get into the telephoto classification. A 300mm lens is extremely telephoto while anything from 70mm to 135mm is referred to as a mild telephoto lens.
When shooting with a long or telephoto lens, you magnify the elements in your scene. Often photographers use a long lens to draw attention solely to the subject and eliminate any distracting background details. In Figure 7-8, I used a 200mm lens (which coincidentally allowed me to stay farther from the fire, smoke, and ash) in order to focus on the fireman himself. Because the background is out of focus, it’s easier to see the water drops that are coming from the fire hose in his hand.
Figure 7-7: Showing the details of the scene with a wide-angle lens.
Focal length has a major impact on depth of field, but it doesn’t have to be the deciding factor on the issue. In situations when you have limited control over your camera position, you may choose your focal length based on your distance to a subject. If you have to use a long lens due to being far away, you don’t necessarily have to have a shallow depth of field.
When you’re forced to use a specific focal length to get the composition you want, you can control your depth of field by changing your aperture. A larger aperture (determined by a lower number, like f/4, as I explain in Chapter 3) produces a more shallow depth of field. On the contrary, a smaller aperture (represented by a higher number, like f/16) produces a greater depth of field.
Here’s a list of combinations you have as options for controlling focal length and depth of field:
To show more of the scene and have a more shallow depth of field, use a wide-angle lens opened up all the way. (Increasing the size of the lens’s aperture opening is referred to as opening up.) This combination is a good way to tell the story about the subject’s environment while still focusing mainly on the subject.
To show less of the scene and have a greater depth of field, use a telephoto lens closed down all the way. (Decreasing the size of the lens’s aperture is referred to as stopping down.) This combination is good for showing the most detail in your subject without losing all detail in the background.
To achieve maximum depth of field, use a wide-angle lens and a small aperture opening.
For the shallowest depth of field, use a long lens and a large aperture opening.
Figure 7-8: Showing the details of the subject with a long lens.
Adding a Secondary Focal Point to Your Composition
Think of the elements in any scene you photograph in terms of a chain of command. Your subject or focal point is the General, and the other elements fall in rank based on how much importance you give them. These other elements are secondary focal points, and the amount of attention a viewer pays to them depends on the same variables that cause the viewer to pay attention to the subject.
For example, if your subject is large in the frame and is sharp, and another element is slightly smaller in the frame and is soft in focus, your viewer looks at the subject first and then moves on to the secondary focal point to see how it relates to the subject. If you add a third element that’s even smaller and even more out of focus, it becomes the third object your viewer looks at.
Use leading lines (any line that directs the viewer’s eye; see Chapter 1) to direct your viewer from one focal point to another and to ultimately lead them back to the subject itself. After all, your goal is to have people look at your photographs for as long as possible.
Figure 7-9 shows a photograph that has many elements that are all relevant to telling the story of the subject (the woman sitting on the bench). Including a light source like the campfire in your composition can cause competition with the subject, so be sure to make your subject stand out (see the earlier section “Making your focal point stand out” for ways to do this). In this case, the woman is in front of a very dark background that causes her to stand out. She’s also positioned in a stronger area of the composition than the fire (you may look at the campfire first, but you’ll spend more time looking at the woman). When I view the elements in this photograph, I begin at the fire, which leads me to the tent, which leads me to the woman. I then scan the picnic table, the firewood, the silhouetted trees, and the man approaching. Finally my eyes hover back to the subject.
When including secondary focal points, keep in mind your intended message. If an element seems to compete with the subject in a way that takes away from the message you’re trying to convey, you may want to remove it from your composition.
Say, for example, that you’re taking a portrait of someone on the beach and another person in the background is wearing a bright red hat. If the hat is the only element in the scene that has such a bold color, you may want to avoid including it in your composition. The distracting element will take away from your subject and won’t necessarily add anything to the message.
Figure 7-9: An example of a composition with secondary focal points.
Some techniques to keep in mind for removing a distracting element from your composition include the following:
Crop it out so it isn’t included in your frame. You can do so by simply rotating your camera or zooming in until the element goes outside the edge of the frame or by physically moving closer to the subject.
Use a shallow depth of field to allow the distracting element to become blurry.
Block it with the subject or another element by changing your position.
Physically remove it if you have the option.
Allow it to be in the shadows so it isn’t obviously visible (assuming you have control over the light or have time to wait for the light to change).
Take it out later in postproduction. (Check out Chapter 18 for details.)