The Digital Photography Book

How and Where to Focus

It’s the eyes. If the eyes aren’t sharp and in focus, you’ll wind up tossing the shot in the trash. Luckily, there’s a focus technique for portraits that we use in every case (with one exception) that works incredibly well: it’s called “focus and recompose.” Start by aiming your viewfinder’s center focus point (or onscreen using Live View) directly over whichever eye is closest to the camera. When it’s right over their eye, hold your shutter button halfway down, which locks the focus on their eye. Keep holding it halfway down, then recompose the shot however you’d like, and then take the shot. Your focus will be spot on ...