Focus on the Eyes

by Mickey Rountree

Focus, Daniel-san. Look eye! Always look eye. Who knew that in The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi was actually giving portrait photography advice?

In a portrait, probably the most important element is the eyes. The eyes are the “window of the soul” and it’s how we make a connection to the subject. If the eyes aren’t in focus, that connection is weakened, and most likely the image will be a failure. And this also applies when photographing animals and wildlife where the eyes are visible.

When shooting full length or ¾ length portraits, if the subject is in focus, most likely the eyes are in focus, especially at smaller apertures. But, as we come in tighter and tighter on the face, focus on the eyes becomes more and more critical. If you’re shooting at a wide aperture like f/1.8 to f/2.8 depth of field becomes very shallow, requiring very careful focus on the eyes. Many of the newer mirrorless cameras have not only face detection, but eye detection as well. If depth of field is so shallow that only one eye can be in focus, it should be the eye nearest the camera. Some of the cameras with eye detection follow the closest eye rule, and others not so much. With shallow depth of field, the difference in focus on the eyes is minimized when the subject faces the camera squarely, and it’s accentuated as the subject turns away.

As you shoot, review your images, zoom in and make sure the eyes are truly sharp. In tight and wide open, realize that not every shot will be razor sharp. Just the slight movement of the photographer or subject breathing can change the focus. Using a tripod can help by at least eliminating movement of the photographer. Also, as you review and edit on the computer, zoom in on the eyes to be sure they are really in sharp focus.

In the examples below I was testing a new camera and lens setup along with a fluorescent ringlight (notice the circular catchlights). Exposure was f/2.0 at 1/200 sec and ISO 200. This close at f/2.0 gave me a depth of field that was just fractions of an inch.

The examples below depend on very fine detail, which is sometimes lost by the time the newsletter is converted to a PDF and the resolution is reduced to create a manageable file size. If you want to see the images at higher resolution, go to my website. You’ll also find all of my past articles here.