Where do you focus when you take a full body shot?

HI guys... most of my landscape full body shots are blurry even with 100+ shutter speed
mostly I focus on subjects eyes (white part of the eye) but still my photos look blurry in landscape mode, while in potrait mode shots are pretty sharp. what am i doing wrong?

where do you guys focus when taking a full body shot in landscape mode and which focus point do you use?

Thanks in advance.
Marco.

No matter what orientation I lock on the eye area then recompose the shot. Always center point AF.

Sample images would be very helpful to diagnose the problem. Usually focus on eyes or face regardless of orientation. Be careful with focus and recompose if using a fast lens but your lenses aren't (as wide aperture gives narrow depth of field and less forgiveness for recomposing). Checking your focus with Live View (magnify and focus manually to compare with auto) is a useful aid to diagnosing focus issues.

Are the eyes in focus and the rest of the person OOF?
Or the eyes also OOF?
If so, you may be recomposing too much for the DOF/aperture selected, although your lenses are not fast, so that seems strange.
Care to post some examples?

Sure I'll take some new shots and post them tomorrow.

For now I can tell you guys this. I use mostly my 70-200 F4L IS lens.

No, I dont focus and recompose. I use only the middle focus point and shoot.

I think the problem is when I shoot in landscape mode, when focused on eyes, it doesn't focus correctly. so whole photos look smudgy and blurry not only the eyes. that's the problem I am having.

So now i am thinking when I take full body shots in landscape mode, I might focus on subjects chin or on the nose?

Ofcourse, When I do a potrait I'll definitely focus on persons eyes.

Not sure how you take a landscape full body shot with center point without recomposing - either the head will be center frame with a lot of wasted sky or wall etc. above it or the navel area will be center frame. Also your 550 D focus points aren't small enough to only focus on an eye in a full body landscape shot. And focus should be same on your camera with center point regardless of camera orientation.

Even at f/4 the eyes should be in focus if you pointing at the nose. Maybe the issue maybe how you're focusing. If your shutter button is doing both the focus and release of the shutter it maybe refocusing when the shot is recomposed.

Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes. If the eyes aren't in focus, it doesn't matter if the rest of the body is.

Try also a few shots with MF, focusing on the same thing (eyes, etc) so you can make a distinction between camera / lens AF issues and usage/method issues.

Also, does your camera have a custom function for focus point tracking/expansion? If so, and it's switched on, then try switching it off...it make be selecting a hidden sensor point on either side of the central point, if there is greater contrast there - such as nostril or something.

lungdoc wrote in post #13879344
Not sure how you take a landscape full body shot with center point without recomposing - either the head will be center frame with a lot of wasted sky or wall etc. above it or the navel area will be center frame. Also your 550 D focus points aren't small enough to only focus on an eye in a full body landscape shot.

I'll upload some examples tomorrow and send you a message then you can understand the problem. thanks for the great replies.

Yes, please post examples and then we can better help you.

Bryan

If you use the Canon software you can see the focus points on the image in the software (DPP if I recall and maybe Zoombrowser but I rarely use) which can be useful to analyse focus issues.

lungdoc wrote in post #13879464
If you use the Canon software you can see the focus points on the image in the software (DPP if I recall and maybe Zoombrowser but I rarely use) which can be useful to analyse focus issues.

True, and it is useful, but note that it doesn't show WHERE the focus is if any re-composition occurred or subject moved between focus lock and shutter actuation.

Thanks for that - I knew that but easy to forget when explaining to others. My guess is OP may be catching focus somewhere well off subject, may be inadvertently refocusing if shutter button linked to focus as per default but we need to see the samples.

Marco2011 wrote in post #13879389
I'll upload some examples tomorrow and send you a message then you can understand the problem. thanks for the great replies.

Marco: Are you talking about using the Portrait and Landscape modes on the mode dial on the camera? I'm not certain, but I don't think that has anything to do with how the camera focuses. However, using those modes gives the camera more control over the process than I am willing to give up. I use Av, Tv, and M (and occasionally B) with manual ISO. I don't use any of the fully automatic modes. I like having the controls for exposure decisions in my hands, not in the questionable decision making of the camera's brain.