What to focus on while taking a landscape shot?

[NYNCTC]

I am having trouble finding a spot to focus on so that the entire picture is clear and sharp. Now it could just be my glass or my setting, but I would like to hear some tips as to long distance landscape shots.

[siriusdogstar]

suggest reading about "depth-of-field" or dof

basically, dof is the region of acceptable focus. increasing aperture number increases dof. as aperture number is increased, focus can be set less than infinity, because infinity will still be in focus due to increased dof.

[Matthew Patrick]

Google hyperfocal distance. That should be just what you're looking for. Also, it helps to have something interesting in the foreground.

[sapearl]

My rule of thumb is about 1/3 of the distance into the scene, approximately, and also using a moderate aperture like f/8 - f/11, on wide angle => medium FL lens. It gets me excellent results nearly every time, with all objects in reasonably sharp focus in front of and behind that focus point. Most of my final prints are 13x19" and everything looks razor sharp on paper. - Stu

[NYNCTC]

thanks for the replies yall, got some searching to do.

[sapearl]

To illustrate the technique, if I recall correctly my focus point was on the bright white pilot house of the crain barge. That was my main point of interest and everything else pretty much fell into my focus range.

thanks for the replies yall, got some searching to do.

[NYNCTC]

thanks for the example! very nice photo, what where the setting on that?

[sapearl]

Just had an opportunity to look it up..... shot it RAW a year ago April -
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/100
Aperture: f/10
FL: 40mm

thanks for the example! very nice photo, what where the setting on that?

[NYNCTC]

i assume you did some PP as well?

[sapearl]

Oh, absolutely - I shoot everything in RAW, so I always adjust WB, color, contrast, saturation, etc. to suit my taste and the type of image I'm trying to convey. I really don't leave much up to the camera for this particular type of work ;).

i assume you did some PP as well?

[sapearl]

NYNCTC - here's another example to illustrate the point from something I shot this afternoon.

ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/125
Aperture: f/8
FL: 73mm
File: RAW

I pretty much wanted to get most everything in reasonably sharp focus. I eyeball estimated that the FOV would start about 8 feet in front of me and end around 150 feet at the left/back edge of the house. So I very arbitrarily picked the center of the foliage sticking out of the trellis on the right and placed my center focus point on it.

Pixel peep the original RAW and I'm sure you'll find areas at that extreme magnification that are not perfectly sharp. But that's not how I enjoy my work or print for my exhibits. As a 13x19 print this would make a very nice matted photo for the building's owner. - Stu

==>

[NYNCTC]

very helpful! now all i need is some nice weather and ill try your tips.

[sapearl]

I forgot to mention - did a bit of post in this one too.

Since there were some fairly bright areas, I had to tone them down a bit but creating some exposure adjustment layers. I used used levels to tweak to my taste, and then finished everything up with a bit of sharpenning: Amount = 225, Radius = 0.5, Threshold = 0. For sharpenning I put together this little tool:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=473056

Weather can be finicky as well as uniquely inspiring. This was done late afternoon on a bright sunny day, with the sun off to the left (West). Dramatic clouds could have been equally inspiring, as well as cool twilight. Think outside of the box of good weather :D. An impending storm can be very interesting:

http://www.pbase.com/sapearl/image/90364358


very helpful! now all i need is some nice weather and ill try your tips.