The deliberate use of sharpness and blur puts your subject at the centre of attention
Sascha Hüttenhain
Reading time approx. 3 minutes
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Wide aperture photography is very popular with many photographers, especially for portraits. The small area of sharpness with an open aperture allows you to focus on the point, placing the subject in the centre and setting it off from the background.
This can be achieved by choosing a fast lens with a maximum aperture of 1.2 or 1.4.
Canon offers lenses at different price levels for different applications.
The classic lens for portraits, for example, is the EF 85mm f/1.4, but you can also take great pictures with the 50mm f/1.2 or the 50mm f/1.8, which is unbeatable in terms of price.
However, this type of photography requires a special approach from the person behind the camera.
As mentioned at the beginning, the depth of field is very limited and you may have noticed that the number of shots where the focus is not exactly where you want it to be is quite high. This is usually less the fault of the camera than of the user. This is because there are often only a few millimetres between the point of focus and the point of blur.
You can see this very clearly in this photo: while the eyes are in focus, the ear area is already very blurred.
The 'focus corridor' in which you move with the aperture open is therefore extremely narrow.
Of course, this could be remedied by closing the aperture, but this would also increase the range of focus towards the back and front, making the photo look less sharp. In order to work successfully and effectively with an open aperture, it is advisable to always set your camera's autofocus point as close as possible to where you want the focus to be. This will prevent you from having to pan the camera too much when composing your shot, which increases the risk of misfocusing. Your camera has many different selectable AF areas that you can use and select individually.
In this case, you should avoid using focus groups. Instead, focus with a small single area and always aim at the eye when taking a portrait, for example. Depending on the subject, you may also want to consider using AI Servo AF.
