In animal photography, the subject’s eyes must be in focus. If they’re not, most professional wildlife photographers will tell us that we’ve missed the shot. Why? Because when we look at a picture of an animal (or person) our eyes go to the subject’s eyes first. If they’re soft, we have to strain our eyes to try to get them into focus, a frustrating and impossible task.
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For this flamingo picture I used the center focus point in the viewfinder of my digital Canon 1Ds Mark II SLR to lock in the focus on the animal’s eye before I took the shot. |
For the sharpest focus, it's best to set the focus using the individual focus points in the viewfinder – rather than using one focus point, locking in the focus, then recomposing and shooting.
Hey! I hope to see some of you at the November 7th Naturescapes event just outside of Washington, D.C. Cool learning and great fun!
Rick Sammon is the best-selling author of 31 books, including three published in 2008: Exploring the Light, Face to Face and Rick Sammon’s Digital Photography Secrets. Check out his books and his work, including his on-line Photoshop lessons, at www.ricksammon.com – and contact him through his blog: http://rickrawrulessammon.blogspot.com.
