Difficulty with focus in portrait orientation.

I've improved quite a bit with my focus in landscape orientation but I'm still having problems with portrait orientation. Any ideas why?

Personally, I don't see anything wrong.

I presume you are talking about the far distance being off focus.

If you let your camera choose the focus point then it will pick the closest thing it finds ( the grass in the front). In this case you should have manually selected a focus point and focussed about a third of the way into the shot, probably about where the rocks are on the right hand side then with a small aperture you will have got it sharp from the foreground to the distance.

This applies to both landscape and portrait orientation so I don't see why you should struggle with either once you have mastered it.

As to the orientation, I might lean towards the landscape version, only because I like seeing the lines of the mountains in the distant, the rock on the foreground doesn't seem to be a "star" of the photo, but in portrait , it does take center view....do you have the original without crop?

Ramon-uk wrote in post #14661499
IIf you let your camera choose the focus point then it will pick the closest thing it finds ( the grass in the front). In this case you should have manually selected a focus point and focussed about a third of the way into the shot, probably about where the rocks are on the right hand side then with a small aperture you will have got it sharp from the foreground to the distance.

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/\ This. In horizontal orientation you have more of the scene hitting focus points. In portrait (as framed) you have a dominant subject close so the camera will lock on that.

gonzogolf wrote in post #14661653
/\ This. In horizontal orientation you have more of the scene hitting focus points. In portrait (as framed) you have a dominant subject close so the camera will lock on that.

^ agreed

martini wrote in post #14661334
Personally, I don't see anything wrong.

Thanks for your feedback Martini.

Ramon-uk wrote in post #14661499
I presume you are talking about the far distance being off focus.

If you let your camera choose the focus point then it will pick the closest thing it finds ( the grass in the front). In this case you should have manually selected a focus point and focussed about a third of the way into the shot, probably about where the rocks are on the right hand side then with a small aperture you will have got it sharp from the foreground to the distance.

This applies to both landscape and portrait orientation so I don't see why you should struggle with either once you have mastered it.

Thanks so much for your input Ramon. I use manual settings and manual focus in all my landscape photos. I also use the LCD screen, that way I can use the grid to find something 1/3 up from the bottom of the frame. It was very windy when I took this photo and that might have contributed to the out of focus distant landscape.

Flo wrote in post #14661629
As to the orientation, I might lean towards the landscape version, only because I like seeing the lines of the mountains in the distant, the rock on the foreground doesn't seem to be a "star" of the photo, but in portrait , it does take center view....do you have the original without crop?

Hello Flo, this is the original version. No crop was done at all to this particular photo. I did take quite a few landscape orientation shots but decided to experiment with using theses grasses and rocks for foreground interest.

gonzogolf wrote in post #14661653
/\ This. In horizontal orientation you have more of the scene hitting focus points. In portrait (as framed) you have a dominant subject close so the camera will lock on that.

Thanks Gonzogolf. I used manual settings, manual focus and tried to focus 1/3 up from the bottom. I must have missed my focus point by a little bit and I'll keep practicing till I get it right.

Lonestarlady61 wrote in post #14664694
Thanks Gonzogolf. I used manual settings, manual focus and tried to focus 1/3 up from the bottom. I must have missed my focus point by a little bit and I'll keep practicing till I get it right.

I'm not a big fan of manual focus using the modern DLSR. They really arent built well for the purpose. I started my photo career well before autofocus so its not that I dont love manual focus, but the viewfinders are poorly designed for the purpose.

Landscapes shot in portrait mode give a feeling of confining space. Landscape orientation opens that up and makes for a more pleasing shot IMO.

So the solution for me is don't shoot landscapes in portrait mode unless you have a specific subject you are trying to compose for.

Titus213 wrote in post #14665508
Landscapes shot in portrait mode give a feeling of confining space. Landscape orientation opens that up and makes for a more pleasing shot IMO.

So the solution for me is don't shoot landscapes in portrait mode unless you have a specific subject you are trying to compose for.

I know exactly what you mean Titus and I feel the same way but a few people have encouraged me to try it out so I did. You might prefer an image like this one:

gonzogolf wrote in post #14664884
I'm not a big fan of manual focus using the modern DLSR. They really arent built well for the purpose. I started my photo career well before autofocus so its not that I dont love manual focus, but the viewfinders are poorly designed for the purpose.

Thanks so much for your comment Gonzogolf and I do know what you mean but the method I'm using seems to work for me 90% of the time anyway.

You could also try a higher aperture to have more DOF as well. I don't see the camera settings, so I do not know what you shot at, but obviously the higher you go up, the more focused background you will achieve.

Lonestarlady61 wrote in post #14665790
I know exactly what you mean Titus and I feel the same way but a few people have encouraged me to try it out so I did. You might prefer an image like this one:

Now stitch an image on each side of that and you have a great landscape.