Focussing one third in?

[Stan Hesketh]

Hi
As I progress with my recently acquired EOS 1100D I am learning quickly about RAW files etc.
One thing baffles me as I move over from film is an article I read recently about landscape photography and the recommendation to "focus one third in." Despite several attempts at understanding it I have failed and wondered if anybody could explain this technique to me? I am used to manual cameras (Spotmatic etc) and have always used the f numbers against the depth of field scale in the past. Sorry if this is old ground, but I am learning
Many thanks.

 

[Pete Askew]

An odd concept, 1/3 in. The same approach you used with film will work with your digital Canon also. I suspect that the concept of the 1/3 in method is based around the asymmetric relationship between depth of field (DoF) and the point of 'true' focus; i.e. more behind than in from in about a 2:1 ratio. But if you don't have enough DoF with your chosen aperture to cover the area you are interested in, it's going to be out of focus. Maybe they assume you'll be shooting at f/16 or something.

Choosing where you want your focus to lay and how much should be in or out is one of the fundamentals of composition, as you know. The fundamentals of optics still count and your knowledge of aperture etc will serve you well I think.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

It might be referring to something I figured out for myself. When shooting a landscape shot, I place the focal point not at infinity, or on the foreground, but on the ground one third in, closer to the foreground than the background...

 

[Pete Askew]

I think that is right, Rob. But you need a reasonably small aperture (or a very wide lens) to get enough DoF for all to be in focus.

 

[John Allen]

Pete and Rob have explained it well. Digital also makes it a lot easier to use focus stacking. It works as well for landscapes as it does for macro photography.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

The one thing I loved first off with digital is that for no extra expense, it is possible to click away and experiment as much as one wishes with time being the only restraint.

 

[Stan Hesketh]

Thank you kind people. I think that perhaps I am trying to read more into this than I should be. I shall experiment with various settings and see were it goes from there.