7 Reasons to Prefer Manual Focus over Auto Focus

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7 Reasons to Prefer Manual Focus over Auto Focus

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Focus is certainly the main aspect of photography, if the images are out of focus they are ruined definitively. There may be several reasons that lead to an out of focus image, some of which may be the difficulty of automatically focusing on a subject but anyway the best way to get out images perfectly focused is by using manual focus. So here are 7 reasons to prefer manual focus over auto focus

1. Sharpen Images

The main reason for preferring manual focus to auto focus is certainly to get sharper images, the best way to deal with manual focus is to achieve it by using live view, following these simple steps:

  1. Set your lens to Manual Focus
  2. Set Live view on your Camera
  3. Use zoom button to zoom into the are you want to focus
  4. Turn the focus ring until what you see is in focus

In this way you should be able to focus manually with ease. There’s also another step to do just to be sure your images are 100% in focus and extra sharp: compare the images captured with manual focus system and live view with an image captured from live view using auto focus. If you’ve done things right the image taken with manual focus should be with better focus and sharper

2. Photograph with every Light

Focusing with auto focus in low light conditions this one may not work properly or be inaccurate. Imagine shooting during the night, especially for night photography, images like milky way or light painting or startrails, manual focus becomes crucial to focus into a total darker scene

3. Capture low Contrasts

The auto focus to work properly needs some points that are “recognized” to the camera. If you’re shooting something that has similar colors, tones, and textures, or a smooth wall your lens can struggle in autofocus mode. In all these cases manual focus is of great help to be able to focus on subjects with low contrasts

4. Capture out of Focus images

One of the strongest photography composition guidelines is framing. Composing a framing with an out of focus element can be a successful compositional element of a photo and can lead the viewer’s eye through the main subject. Manual focus helps in this sense to be able to take our images with such compositional techniques and play between in focus and out of focus elements

5. Photograph with Fog

Fog is that element that helps make the image more striking and create a beautiful atmosphere in the image. But fog will reduce contrasts and scatter light in the scene, and focusing with fog can be difficult with auto focus if there’s not strong contrasted element in the scene. In all the cases of fog and misty landscapes using manual focus will avoid the problem of having out-of-focus images in fog

6. Focus Stacking

Focus stacking is one of the most used technique to ensure all of images elements are in focus. With focus stacking you take many images of the same scene with different focus in order to achieve a completely focused images with all the elements of the scene perfectly in focus. I created a detailed guide on how focus stack your images using bracketed shots. For a precise use of focus stacking it is very imporant to use manual focus, because it allows you to have great control of the elements of the frame in at different focal angles

7. Moving Objects

This point can be connected with the previous one but also because mobile elements are present in landscape photography. Imagine having to focus stack on flowers in the foreground that are moving on a windy day, or simply wanting to give movement to an element of the photo while keeping the focus fixed in one point. All of this with auto focus would be slower and even more difficult to achieve

Conclusions

Even if manual is better for all the reasons we talked about automatic focus can be very usefull in other situations, the auto focus should be used for:

  • Photographing animals, sport or other scenes where the subject is moving
  • Photographing events and concerts where the subject doesn’t stand still
  • Photographing handheld

Even if auto focus are certainly valid in different cases, for professional results rely to manual focus is the best solution. In any case relying on own’s eyes and judgment is always the best choice

In the Wood

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The autumn scenarios are of great inspiration this period for me and for this reason this week’s photo is centered on a autumn forest scenery. I found many leaves on the ground and no longer on the trees but despite all the forest was enveloped by a magical mysterious autumnal atmosphere

In this photograph I tried to focus more on capturing the sun filtering through the dry branches of the trees, pushing myself as low as possible with the camera to have an overbearing foreground

I made this shot in focus stacking because I had in front of me several points with different focus starting from the roots up to the trees that are at the bottom of the woods

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I started stacking all the exposures into a final image, after this I fixed all the highlights and contrast using luminosity masks. The image needed a perspective correction that I made through the use of Photoshop Warp to bring the roots a little closer and arrange the other trees in the forest

I increased details and created a glow atmosphere with orton effect using TTS Pro, with a paintbrush I glowed also the highlights to increase the sense of glow coming from the sky

After fixing color vibrance and saturation I added a small vignette to focus more attention on the sun spikes and the main tree

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Focus Stacking

ISO: 100 at f/22

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

Side Walk

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Waterfalls and autumn are two elements that always get along very well. During the autumn season I always try to find some beautiful glimpses with waterfalls inside woods and small forests, the water as I wrote in my tutorial dedicated to autumn how to photograph the beauty of autumn colours ,is a very strong element for autumn shots

I took this photo without the help of any filter since the water flow was very strong and I didn’t want to risk an excessive loss of water texture

I used focus stacking in this photo by focus on the foreground and then on the rest of the scene, since the focus point was the same

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I create the shot to edit blending the shots needed for focus stacking. Also with this image for every focus point I take two exposures, darker and brighter in order to digital blend the shots before proceed with focus stacking

I increased the highlights coming from the aperture on the trees to increase the sense of glow in this picture and I pushed up orton effect and glow effect for this

I increased details selectively on the rocks and on the trees, with luminosity masks I fixed contrast and lights over the scene, I added glow in the scene also using the glow tool

As final steps I increased the color vibrance and pushed up the autumn colours

All the edits are done with my TTS Pro panel, I hope you will find this usefull. I always love to ear that from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Focus Stacking

ISO: 64 at f/11

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Touch

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Not so far from the city of Rome some forests still looks green, it will take some other week to turn to the beautiful autumn orange. Meanwhile, here is another image of a waterfall captured directly from its shore, the series of waterfalls in this area creates a deep pool of water on multiple levels

Since I was in a wooded area quite closed from light, I went here during the day with full daylight, to benefit from a brighter light to sufficiently illuminate the scene. From the right suddenly a strong light filtered towards the water and the leaves that were in front of me and that I used as the main subject of the foreground, as a touch of light in a darker scene

I capture this photo through focus stacking and perspective blending techniques, so I capture different focus on the scene and I blended togheder to obtain a perfectly focused frame, I already corrected the perspective with the waterfall using another waterfall picture with an undistorted perspective

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I captured 4 different focus point in the scene + another picture for the correct perspective of the waterfall + another one for saving the moving foliages

For every focus point I got two exposures darker and brighter that I used for digital blending. Once I composed the base working image, I started editing the image using TTS Pro. With luminosity masks I fixed the highlights and shadows in the frame and with dodge and burn I decreased all the strong lights in the frame

I used orton effect here, perfect for this kind of scenes and with the use of glow tool  I created some glowing lights in the picture. I increased the color vibrance, increased details and sharpness on the rocks and on the leafs

As final step I launched a soft vignette to favor the impression of a mysterious image to the viewer

As always I hope you will find this usefull! I love to ear that from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Focus Stacking

ISO: 64 at f/14

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Waterway

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Near Rome there is this graceful waterfall which takes the name of Mola like the millstone located next to an old mill, built in the 1500s. The artifact was used for the milling of wheat from flour, exploiting the waters of the river

The waterfall is surrounded by greenery a few kilometers from the town and the canalization works, the lock and the remains of the tuff perimeter walls are still visible from the old mill

I captured this shot using focus stacking technique so capturing a series of exposures near the foreground water and another series for the trees, no other shots was necessaries for the mid elements

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended all the shots captured using focus stacking in order to create the image perfectly focused. In this shot I also used another technique which I have never talked about so far but which I promise to deepen in the coming months, that is the perspective blending

With the use of perspective blending I corrected the perspective between the water in the foreground and the waterfall which was distorted by the vertical line, it often happens that moving the angle of view too low, the images in the background are excessively affected by the distortion of the wide angle but correcting properly the perspective can achieve a optimal result

Once corrected all I started adding details, contrasts and correcting the lights using TTS Pro panel, after this I added  orton effect, I love this effect in nature sceneries and the glow tool over the water and the sky

I increased the yellow colors using luminosity masks applied to shadows and blue tones applied to highlights. I also fixed the vibrance of colors and the whole luminosity of the shot

As final step I also added a manual vignette to the foreground

I really hope you will find this usefull! I like e to ear this from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Three Shots (-1; 0; +1) focus stacked

ISO: 100 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

Coastal Beauty

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I shot for three consecutive days in this location in search of the best clouds and the most interesting colors, at the end I preferred for this image in focus stacking with this rock in the foreground using two different focuses between foreground and the mountain. I used a nd filter with -6 stops to make this, I love the submerged part of the rock blurred by the long exposure of the water

This area is one of my favorite locations to photograph the sea. I’m talking about Cilento area in the south of Italy. I love the rocky beaches with the mountain in the background typical of this area. The sunsets here are always very special and full of beautiful colors, every year I try to spend a few days here taking these colorful seascapes

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I captured this with 5 brackedet shots that I merged using TTS Pro with digital blending creating 2 different shots that I blended with focus stacking. With luminosity masks I fixed the highlights in the sky and I lightened the darker parts of the rocks

After increasing the color vibrances, I used dodge and burn to fix some darker areas around the rocks and darkened the general luminosity of the picture using a vignette

I increased the contrast applying luminosity masks to curves adjustment layer, after a general layer fixes a gived a soft orton effect to create a soft glow effect

I hope you will find this usefull! I love to ear that from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Five Expoures (-2; -1; 0; +1; +2)

ISO: 100 at f/16

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

Mountain Roots

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In the splendid setting of the Alps I took advantage of every single shot and moment of light that I had available, it was a beutiful excursion and a very prolific day from a photographic point of view. I made this shot using a large root of a tree that protruded from the ground around the frozen lake with the mountain in the background to complete the scenery

Here too, as in my two previous photos, I shot with the focus stacking technique, then first capturing a series of shots for the foreground and then a new series of shots for the mountain in the background. The result is a shot completely in focus, you can find more information on this technique in my article dedicated to how to use focus stacking with exposure bracketing

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

The processing was very similar to the latest of this series, I firstly blended the shots with respective focus, than I blended the two groups of images using focus stacking technique

With the use of TTS Pro I added details and contrast to the frame, than I increased warm lights with a warm filter applied to luminosity masks. I launched orton effect, than I fixed lights and contrasts using again luminosity masks around the main point of interests such as highlights and dark shadows

With the use of dodge and burn I lighten the root in order to give more appearance to the eye of the viewer, I also lightened the trees below the mountain and given more prominence to the sunlight reflections on the ice

I increased the colour vibrance and the autumn colour look using the specific effect you can find in my free panel

As final touch I darkened the the lawn area around the roots to give greater prominence to the central figure of the photo

I hope you will find this usefull! I’m happy to ear this from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14 mm)

Single Shot

ISO: 100 at f/14

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Crystal Veins

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I know, there are many photos that I am posting every week of this place and its surroundings but the situations I found with light, ice, colours and great points of view was very very interesting

Compared to last week’s shot I shot a few tens of meters but as you can see for yourself the main subject remains the same. Here too I benefited from large and interesting colors in the sky not quite the classical golden hour time, a sign that in the mountains there are many hours during the day where you can shoot with great colours during the day

Also here as for the previous shot I used the focus stacking technique with multi exposure, so I captured a bracketing series with a focus on the foreground and a bracketing series with the focus on the mountain subject in order to blend the “two series of shots” togheder

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

To use the focus stacking technique I digital blended the shots with foreground using TTS Pro than I repeated the same process for the shots with mountain focused, after this I merged the two series togheder using focus stacking function on Photoshop

I fixed the highlights using luminosity masks, than I regulated contrast and colours. With dodge and burn I regulated all the lighting around the mountain, the forest below it but also in the reflections of the lake and on the rock

With my glow tool and the use of a brush with warm colors I emphasized the colors on the rocks of the sun and on the ice around them

After this I increased details and sharpness removing the effect in the unwanted areas using a simple layer mask and a black brush

Also for this shot I applied two different kinds of orton effect: the first is the classic orton effect decreased to the opacity to 15% and the second is the orton effect dark, that emphatize the dark tones of the image this time reduced in the opacity by 10%

I also decreased a bit the whole exposure of the shot, to create more atmosphere in this view

I really hope you will find this usefull! I like to ear this from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14 mm)

Single Shot

ISO: 100 at f/14

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

Where Tomorrow Goes

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A blue hour at the beginning of darkness at Passo Falzarego, a beautiful atmosphere during the day and a night that turns out to be even more interesting an mysterious

I took this photo just before darkness shoting on one of the main peaks and working with a focus stacking between the backround mountain and the foreground shrub

My main intent in this photo was to convey a sense of darkness and mystery, I used focus stacking on a bracketing series which that I blended with luminosity masks in Photoshop

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended the shot using TTS Pro to achieve a final shot with both background and foreground in focus, after this I increased the blue colours and decreased the exposure to intensify the dark mood

I increased details and I applied a orton effect, , after this I fixed contrast over the frame. I added a soft blue filter and with dodge and burn tool I made some painting over the shrub and over the mountain

I fixed the lights and darkness using luminosity masks and I increased sharpen over the mountain, as last touch I increased the vignette giving more light to the center of the image

I always hope you will find this usefull. I’m happy to ear that from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 70-200 f/2,8 (used at 102mm)

Three Shots (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 320 at f/7,1

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

Bubble Crack

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Visiting Lake Braies is always beautiful, since I’ve been here other times, on my last visit I wanted to see it in winter. Usually in winter the frozen lakes lose part of their fascination, especially due to the absence of reflections, but in my opinion they gain on the colors and the pov where it is possible to take some pictures and Braies is one of the best on this

I found a very interesting point under the famous pier overlooking the mountain, under the snow could not settle and so remained only the ice, here the view towards the mountain in the background was perfect and the ice with all its variations did the rest

Photo aside this pov was definitely very uncomfortable, I had to shoot quickly because the place was very slippery and my tripod keep slipping away 🙂

I captured the images with two different focus points for focus stacking in order to obtain a unique focused picture of lake Braies 

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

As I mentioned above, I captured all my bracketing exposures first focusing on the ice below and then focusing to the mountain.  Once at the computer I uploaded all the photos between them and started this process to have 3 final images focused near and to infinite

At this point I started using my TTS PRO panel, to make a digital blending between images using auto blend functions. I started removing some people in the scene with clone stamp tool, than I raised the detail levels and adjusted the contrast with the luminosity masks

I used the dodge and burn to give more impact to the bubbles below, then adjusted the colors by increasing the purple and applying a colder filter to the frame. With the glow tool I adjusted the light intensity of the sky and lightened some points of the photo.

Finally I launched a slight orton effect and created a vignette effect to emphasize the central scene

As always I hope you will find this usefull. I love to ear this from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8

Three Exposures Focus Stacked (-1; 0; +1;)

ISO: 50 at f/6,3

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

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Hi, my name is Giuseppe Sapori, a professional photographer and author of this website, created by yours truly to show my work and share with you the techniques I use. My expertise is in the field of Landscape Photography... (Read More)

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