The Enthusiast's Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography, 1st Edition

31. FOCUS ON THE RIGHT THING

EACH PHOTOGRAPH TELLS a story, and the area that is in focus becomes the focus of the story. This is critical when you are shooting action in low light because you have to use wide apertures, which creates very shallow depth of field. You can use this to your advantage because the viewer’s eyes will always be drawn to whatever is in focus in your image. For example, I photographed musician Mark Karan playing guitar with a very wide aperture (Figure 31.3). The hand closest to the camera is in sharp focus, but the focus drops off really quickly, keeping the viewer’s attention where I want it.

This also works when you’re ...