…these areas are often only just within the range of acceptable sharpness, so they’ll not be as sharp as they could be. While it’ll technically keep the nearest foreground point and the most distant background point acceptably sharp… Here’s one big problem with hyperfocal distance focusing: Shortcomings of Hyperfocal Distance Focusing Note that, when using the hyperfocal distance, you’ll render everything from half of the hyperfocal distance to infinity acceptably sharp. If you focus at the hyperfocal distance, you get the largest possible part of the scene sharp. Hyperfocal distance refers to the point at which you focus a lens to maximize depth of field. Make sense? What Is Hyperfocal Distance? Hyperfocal Distance Definition And third, the distance between your lens and your point of focus influences depth of field, with a nearer point of focus producing a shallower depth of field, and a more distant point of focus producing a narrower depth of field.Second, your lens’s aperture influences the depth of field, where wider apertures (e.g., f/2.8) results in a shallower depth of field, and narrower apertures (e.g., f/16) results in a deeper depth of field–again, with all else being equal.First, the focal length of your lens influences depth of field, where longer focal lengths result in a shallower depth of field, and shorter focal lengths result in a deeper depth of field, all else being equal.Now let’s take a quick look at the factors that actually affect depth of field:ĭepth of field is determined by three variables. Or the depth of field can be extremely shallow, when you only have a sliver of the image in focus, and the rest blurred out. Note that the depth of field can be very large, in which case the entire scene may be sharp, from foreground to background. This will ensure that everything in the scene, from the nearest foreground subject to the distant sky in the background, is completely in focus.Īnd that’s where hyperfocal distance really matters.īut before I explain hyperfocal distance in more detail, let’s cover the basics of depth of field: What Is Depth of Field?ĭepth of field (DoF) refers to the amount of your photo that’s sharp, starting at the nearest object that’s sharp, and extending to the most distant object that’s sharp. Now, if you’re taking a landscape photo with lots of depth, and your goal is to keep the scene sharp throughout, then there’s something you must do: (Note that this is the complete opposite of portrait photography, where the goal is to create images with a sharp subject and a blurry background, so that the background emphasizes the main subject by creating a clear separation between it and the model.) However, it’s not enough to simply include these subjects.įor the best possible results, the foreground, middleground, and background subject must be sharp if they’re not, then the viewer won’t feel the same compulsion to continue through the scene, and they may not immediately understand where to focus. The middleground subject moves them further into the scene.Īnd the background subject is the final point of focus, where the eye can finally rest. The foreground subject captures the viewer’s attention. See also: Foreground, Middleground, Background in Landscape Photography This is achieved by including points of interest in the foreground, middleground, and background. In landscape photography, the goal is to create an image with depth, one that draws the viewer into the scene. Here’s why the hyperfocal distance matters: Maximizing Depth of Field in Landscape Photography

In fact, if you desire the sharpest possible landscape photos, you must master hyperfocal distance–because without accurately estimating it, you’ll often end up with blurry foregrounds and/or backgrounds. In this article, I’m going to explain everything you need to know about hyperfocal distance, and how you can use it for photos that are sharp from front to back.

Hyperfocus photography