Where do u focus when shooting street?

[psychokiller]

Hi all,

I'm never quite sure where to focus when shooting fast street photography with my recently acquired M7.

An example is this photo I took last week. I shot this with a 35mm lens so I was walking with the group and then quickly stopped in the middle of the road to take the shot. I had a second to focus/ scale focus and I ended up focusing more on the guy in the grey jacket on the left and the backpacker on the right instead of the Japanese Punk who is obviously the subject.

Should I have focused instead on the buildings or the 'Park St' sign so that at least more of the scene would appear in focus? That is, should I just have focused closer to infiinity and not worry about the subject?

How would you have dealt with this situation?

 

[psychokiller]

As an added bonus, I've never seen or really noticed diffraction when stopped down to f/11 and or f/16. It could be because of my subject matter, but I could be wrong!

I forgot to mention that this was shot at f8. I hear Leica lenses perform well until f8 and then not so well. But you're right..f11 might have made some difference..

I have seen diffraction set in at f13 with some lenses/ depending on subject matter in the 35mm format so I do not stop down beyond f11 as a rule.

 

[40oz]

Looks fine to me as it is. You could make up some huge statement about what you were trying to show, and nobody would be the wiser.

It's better this way. The focus is fine, IMHO. I don't need the punk to be the only one in focus to make me look at him.

I think it's a great shot. I'd say keep on doing whatever it is you are doing. I try to get the scene, and kind of think shots where everything is in focus is lazy. It's better in my mind to use the depth of field rather than just trying to get everything in focus.

As far as "lazy" goes 😀 , I do try to estimate the distance I want from my subjects that day, or their size in my frame, and preset the distance to that when I'm walking around. I usually take the time to finish focusing when I see what I want, but I also feel free to shoot however. It's just quicker to set it to 8 or 10 feet, and then just raise and frame the shot, adjusting or waiting for the subject to walk into focus. It's not really a thought-out strategy, just something I find myself doing. I set the camera for the light when I start out, but I might check it occasionally just out of boredom or curiosity, i.e. checking my math. But I don't do it every shot or anything. I just stop up or down depending on what I want exposed and in focus.

If that helps 🙂

 

[jan normandale]

Your shot works for me. All I could suggest is take another as you both get closer.

 

[Belle]

Based on your subjects distance in the photo and the f stop set at 8, you could just pre-focus your 35 mm lens to around 3 meters and let the depth of field (which is 1.7 meter to about 7 meter) catch your subject and everything in between it. If you're in a hurry, you don't even have to bring your camera to eye-level to focus. Just keep your camera chest level, and shoot. This is the magic of the rangefinder. Hope this helps.

 

[Belle]

Here's a link I found that may be useful. You may do some additional research on the subject.

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/marine/569/rusrngfdrs/focusing.html

 

[erikhaugsby]

As an added bonus, I've never seen or really noticed diffraction when stopped down to f/11 and or f/16. It could be because of my subject matter, but I could be wrong!

I've never bothered to learn what diffraction looks like, so even if it existed in some of my pictures I wouldn't know to kick myself! 😛

 

[psychokiller]

Thanks for your comments and positive feedback.

So can I assume for such street photos, most of you are shooting at f8-f11?

I would like to shoot at around f2.8 -f4 at times for this type of photography but if I misfocus, the shallower dof makes my error significantly more noticeable...which begs the question...how do people shoot street photography at night when you are shooting at f2?

 

[Michael I.]

I shoot as open as 4-5.6 hyperfocally with a 35 summaron lens.
I choose the focus at 2 meteres and try to get two meteres within my subject

 

[BillP]

In daylight, it's f8 to f11 for me. I shoot on the hoof, or stand for a second or two. Occasionally I dwell at a particular place and wait for the shot to manifest itself in front of me - a doorway waiting to frame someone, for instance. Night shots are different. There I spend more time still. I may prefocus at a particular point or landmark and wait for my subject to reach that point. Night shooting for me is far more measured, deliberate, less Zen.

Regards,

Bill

 

[yanidel]

I always leave the lens at 5 meters focus on F/8. On the RD1 it means that everything between about 2.5 meters and infinity is in focus. So I can take the shot straight away when I walkaround and in situations where I don't have time to focus more precisely. DOF is infinity, yet this is better than just missing the moment.
In low light though, you have to focus every shot.

 

[Nh3]

My camera focuses for me so I just pay attention to the subject and composition. ;-)


But seriously, use the hyperfocal focus for day time and zone focus during night time.

 

[mfunnell]

So can I assume for such street photos, most of you are shooting at f8-f11?

Well, no (at least in my case). I select my aperture based on what I want to achieve. In this case (75mm f1.4):

[Pitt Street]

I wanted narrow DOF, for effect.

In this case (50mm f4) I still wanted some subject isolation, but wanted wider DOF and "intelligible" not-quite-in-focus areas:

[further towards Circular Quay than your shot]

While, in this case (50mm f2.8):

[my local in Epping]

I just wanted as fast a shutter speed as I could get, and was lucky to hold it steady enough at 1/5th of a second (OK, bad choice of film, but its what was loaded at the time).

So, no, I don't think, at all, that you should select a particular aperture for "street photography". Instead, you should select the aperture that gives you the effect you want and only failing that take a punt that what's necessary might, almost accidentally, work.

...Mike

 

[mfunnell]

I try to predetermine the distance and let the subject walk into focus.

A very useful technique. But you still need to determine how much around the subject you want in-focus and how much you want to throw out-of-focus.

...Mike

 

[Spider67]

Great Photographs Mike!
Makes me want to start taking pics right now.... my Zorki is with me but unfortunately not the take up spool!

"focus in your souls and focus with your heart and enlightenment will follow you"
Nihon Kogaku Roshi Zen Master

 

[mfunnell]

my Zorki is with me but unfortunately not the take up spool!

Ouch! For want of a nail.... etc. I hate it when that happens.

And thanks for the kind words about my photos...

...Mike

 

[psychokiller]

But seriously, use the hyperfocal focus for day time and zone focus during night time.

I thought hyperfocal and zone focus were the same technique. What's the difference?

 

[bmattock]

I thought hyperfocal and zone focus were the same technique. What's the difference?

They are related.

Zone focus is using what you know of the DOF of a given lens focal length at a given f-stop to place your subject within it.

Hyperfocal is the distance setting where you place your camera lens when you want everything from a given distance to infinity to be in focus.

Zone does not include infinity by definition, but it can.

So hyperfocal focusing is a type of zone focusing, but zone focusing is not necessarily hyperfocal focusing.

Both take advantage of knowing what your depth-of-focus is for any given situation.

 

[mfunnell]

Hyperfocal: put, say, the f8 mark next to infinity and read your closest point of "acceptable" focus from the other f8 mark.

Zone focus: put, say, the f8 mark next to 10 meters and read... (etc.)

Hyperfocal focusing gives you your closest point of "acceptable" focus, with everything beyond that (all the way to infinity) also being in "acceptable" focus.

Zone focus gives you (pulling numbers out of the air) everything between 3 meters and 10 meters within "acceptable" focus, with objects both closer and further away being perceived as out-of-focus.

...Mike

 

[Spider67]

If you want to have focus eg (at the proper f Stop)from 1 to 5m you don't focus on 2,5m but on 1,6m becaue otherwise the foreground could be out of focus. So you put th focus at 1/3 and not at 1/2 of you "focus-distance"!