OK, please advise about focus points

I happened to read this article last night.

http://improvephotogra​phy.com …compose-compose-portrait/

I am in the situation where my Rebel bodies (450D 500D0 have only 9 AF points. I have been using the center AF point in portraits ever since I have been taking them. I have had many instances where I felt the eyes weren't in good focus and I couldn't understand why. I think this article may have hit the reason.

I bugged my daughter this morning to let me get a couple shots and I used auto focus points instead of the center, and low an behold, on a couple shots the focus on the eyes seemed better than many of my shots using the center point.

But, a couple other times the camera didn't even hit on the face but chose more contrasty places like the hair line and such, and then the eyes were out worse than normal.

So my question is, is the only real way out of this problem for those of us with 9 AF points to simply continue with the center point AF, and then forget about trying to shoot wide open (2.8 aperture for me) and shoot at like a 3.5 or 4 aperture?

I feel like that the focus hasn't been perfect for me and now I am thinking that it's not my camera/lens calibration but that i am simply trying to shoot at 2.8, then trying to focus then recompose and I am moving out of that small DOF when recomposing, thereby getting the eyes slightly oof.

What aperture do most of you shoot your portraits at and what af points do you use?

In other words, all boiled down, how consistent of focus on the eyes can you get trying to focus then recompose at a 2.8 aperture using the center AF point?

Should I stop trying to use 2.8 to get bokeh and get it by moving my subject away from the background instead, and just settle on a standard aperture like 4 for portraits so that the focus on the eyes would be better? Then I could just use my center AF point and not have to worry about moving out of the dof area when recomposing?

Just wanting some thoughts on this stuff.

I use focus recompose for pretty much every shot. Even with lower apertures than 2.8. I rarely notice a shift in AF unless im making a drastic composition change.

This has been discussed here:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1024777

If you look at the bottom left of the page, the forum has also done a thread search for you under "similar threads".

I always compose and focus.

Nothing wrong with 2.8 if you pay attention to the distance from your subject.

Firstly, I never use "all-points" AF, as that is simply telling the camera to choose what it thinks the subject is and focus on that. It doesn't know to focus on the eyes, so may pick that or something else entirely, which is what you seem to be seeing in your results. I always choose the focus point I want, nearest to where I want to focus, and use that.

Have you tried selecting one of the off centre points and using that? Either by placing it over the eye and taking the shot without any recomposing (may require a little cropping later to remove dead space) or recomposing as you do with the centre point, but obviously not as much so the effect will be less.

Also, be aware that when recomposing it is possible that you may be moving slightly backwards or forwards, many photographers have a tendency to lean in slightly as they take the shot, without realising it. That can affect the focus if you have locked it to recompose. Similarly, are you sure the model isn't moving, often they move around noticeably whilst moving from pose to pose and, again, if your focus is locked it can cause the shot to look oof.

The whole focus recompose thing can make a difference with certain apertures, and distance to subject, although f/2.8 should be okay for most things with minimal recomposing. It could be that your problem is more down to additional fore/aft movement of the camera or movement of your model whilst recomposing.

Focus and recompose with my 9 point 50D always worked fine.

Wrong section.

CincyTriGuy wrote in post #14343397
Focus and recompose with my 9 point 50D always worked fine.

Were you set at 2.8? This can make recomposing more difficult as the plane of focus is shallow and moving the camera, even tilting it some can make a difference in the focal distance - especially for those with a "good eye"