I was told by a member of another forum that
" it’s either in focus or not. Focus is not relative…"
There is much to be said but let’s hear it from the members.
My immediate reaction is “which part of the photo?” Limiting DOF can be a powerful element, and for lots of subjects all-sharp is all-boring.
Rather an oversimplification in my mind. I’ve seen very appealing images where nothing is in perfectly sharp focus and it’s done deliberately. Certainly for Avian or Wildlife or Macro or Floral Photography, you are very unlikely to have the luxury of having the full frame in sharp focus, nor would you usually want to do so.
I do know that some of the early bird photographers thought they should have the bird and habitat all in sharp focus, but they were working at the nest and it would have really looked ugly with slightly out of focus twigs and branches everywhere. Also, many of them were approaching photography from the point of view of an ornithologist documenting nature, rather than an artist interpreting it. And once you grab a super-telephoto it becomes a dead issue.
In reality, only one plane parallel to the focal plane will be in perfect focus**. All other areas closer, or further from this plane will not be.
The areas closer to the plane of perfect focus, or further from it will fall within an ‘acceptable’ focus range depending upon the chosen f-stop.
**This assumes a camera that does not have a tilt-shift lens, or a view camera where the focal plane can be adjusted to a plane other than parallel.
-P
1 Like