Today we’re talking about a few different things. The primary item is hyperfocal distance. What is it and is it really important to use in your photography. We’ll also take a walk down memory lane with a photo shoot I did a while ago. This is Latitude Photography Podcast episode 144 for June 3, 2022.
Listen where you want:
Hyperfocal Distance
This topic was spurred once again by a question we had in the Latitude Photography School live discussion where we get together and talk about whatever is on the minds of the members. One member asked about AF vs. MF in today’s modern cameras, and also he wanted to know more about Hyperfocal distance and whether or not that’s something we should be concerned about.
As it relates to switching to Manual Focus, certainly do it for a few reasons.
So your camera doesn’t have to achieve focus before you trip the shutter. Great for changing light on a tripod mounted landscape photo.
If you’re shooting macro, often very helpful.
If you’re shooting a very low contrast object such as stormy clouds, it can be very difficult to get a lock on them.
If you just want to practice and you want to see how things go, that’s great too.
Focus stacking, though many cameras now have this process automated and it may be worth the effort to learn it.
So I then opened up my mini-ebook on the topic of hyperfocal distance and highlighted a few things. And that’s what I’ll do now.
Don’t forget, DOF calculators are calibrated to an enlargement of 8×10 image, so as you enlarge more, your DOF calculations need to be redone or at least reconsidered.
So in the end, my opinion is to not really worry about hyperfocal distance unless you’re doing street photography or some other type of photography where you want to be really casual with what you’re doing and you want to work really quickly. Otherwise, for my work, I almost never consider it when I’m shooting.
Travel Plans
Workshop happening in mid-June
Very high gas prices makes it tough to adequately plan other journeys. I do hope to get to the Wallows and the Eagle Cap Wilderness this summer.
International plans? Not happening this year. I refuse to support a country that treats unvaxxed travelers any differently from vaxxed travelers. There’s a great resource for knowing this in a pinch. (kayak site)
What I may do… Plan to go “somewhere” next summer but not make the plans until just before I head out. We were planning on doing this for summer 2020 where my wife would be involved in the planning, and she’d ask ya’ll where to send me, and then It’d be a surprise to me. But anyway, we may do that for summer 2023. We’ll see.
Vietnam has a new glass bridge I’d LOVE to see.
A walk down memory lane
Images from Berlin, 2016.
Links mentioned in today’s discussion
Kayak’s Travel Restrictions Page: https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions?
Find out more about the Palouse Shoot-n-Print Workshop
https://brentbergherm.com/workshops/palouse-shoot-n-print-workshop/
A dose of inspiration:
Psalm 91:11 says: “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.”
Anonymous: “Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is”
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