I have tried a few different ways of focusing on specific objects using the cameras to create effects such as creating a depth of field in some images. I have changed the focal length and have tried using auto focus and manual focus to see the better parts for each and how each are worse than others.
I have tried using manual and auto focuses. Manual focus lets you properly choose what you want to focus on in the image. This can be very useful if you want something off center or that is quite small to be the main focus of an image as auto focus usually seems to try to get larger objects that take up more of the frame into focus. Although, auto focus tries to pick a focus point. This on a lot of recent cameras has been made very well and can usually pick out the point you want to focus on.
This is an example of an image that has used auto focus that hasn’t worked as planned. I wanted to take an image with the pole in the background as the focal point, but auto focus tried to focus onto the plant in the foreground of the image.
For this image I then changed it to use manual focus so that I could choose the focal point I wanted. Doing this created a nice depth of field effect behind the pole and blurred out the plant in the foreground.
These are the other images I have taken by trying out different types of focuses, some of them I have used auto focus on and some I have used manual focus on. I have put them into a contact sheet and have put crosses and circles over some to show which may be worth looking toward editing and which I don’t like and don’t believe are worth using.