Types of Focus in Photography

There are many types of focus in photography in todays current line of cameras. In our Instructable, you will learn and understand the different types of focus on cameras in photography. To follow the focuses provided, you will need a camera. Preferably a Canon or Nikon DSLR for shooting pictures.

The first type of focus is Continuous Focus, this is when you want moving objects to be sharp as you are taking pictures of them. Continuous Focus on Canon is called Al Servo AF and AF-C for Nikon. To do this focus mode, you will need to put your shutter speed at 1/750, aperture (F-stop) at F/9.5, ISO at 200, and make sure that you don't have your flash on!

The next focus is called One-Shot Focus. For this one, you would want to have your shutter speed at 1/1600, aperture at F/1.8, ISO at 200, and make sure you have your flash ON!

This type of focus saves battery power and is great for objects that aren't moving. In this mode, when you change the shutter release so it only opens halfway, the camera will only focus on the subject one time so there aren't continuous changes.

This mode is not the best when you’re trying to take a picture of something that’s changing positions. Therefore, if you’re trying to get a quick shot of an animal in the early morning, or trying to get a shot of an in action sport game, then One Shot focus is not the best option for you.

This is a new and useful feature, while using this feature, the computer system in the cameras jump between AF-C and AF-S (Nikon)/One-Shot AF and AI Servo AF (Canon) but this all depends on what type of picture you're taking. To use this feature switch the Autofocus mode on but this only works if your camera has this feature. You will need to have your shutter speed at 1/60, aperture at 1/16, your ISO at 100, and make sure that your flash is on.

This feature is useful because the camera will automatically make small adjustments of you move the main subject in the picture or if the subject moves itself.

This is the last focus that we're going to talk about. Manual Focus turns your photos from good to great. How it works is that you manually focus the camera onto your subject and take the picture. But you need to also make sure that you are the right distance away too. Either you can probably eyeball it, or take a tape measure and measure how far away or close you have to be to your subject. When you do this, your camera needs to be at a 1/40 shutter speed, aperture at 4.5, and your ISO is at 100. Your flash will not be on for this one.