FOCUS
3 harp focus is such an accepted standard
in photography that it is rarely treated as
anything other than a way of producing a “correct”
image, just like inserting the memory card before
shooting and other obvious essentials. Only
occasionally does it occur to most people to vary
the focus for the effect it has on the design. Yet,
under the right circumstances, this can be effective.
The question of where to focus seldom
arises, because the normal practice of making
a photograph is first to decide what the subject
should be and then to aim the camera. Natural
enough, certainly, and the usual focus problems
are those of accuracy rather than of selection.
seen in one photograph, from soft to sharp. As
the sharp area is expected to coincide with the
main point of interest—where the eye is expected
finally to rest—the range of focus contains a sense
of direction from unsharp to sharp. This is not
nearly such a strong inducement to the eye as the
lines of view that we have just looked at, but it
works nevertheless. What is important is that it
works through the familiarity of the viewer with
the way his or her own eyes will focus on
an object.
3%.3%/&-/6%-%.4).&/#53
Shorter focal lengths give images with better
depth of field than do longer focal lengths, and we
are accustomed to seeing wide-angle views that
are sharp throughout. With a typical telephoto
image, loss of focus either in the background or
foreground is such a familiar condition that we
expect it. With a wide-angle view, on the other
hand, out-of-focus areas are not expected, and
when this happens with a fast wide-angle lens
used at maximum aperture on a deep subject,
it can easily look in some way wrong.
7ITHAMMLENSFOCUSEDONTHEDISTANCEDEPTH
Under normal circumstances, the point to OFFIELDINTHISSHOTOF,AKE-AGADIIN.GORONGORO
be focused on—the eyes in a face, or a figure #RATER4ANZANIAISVERYSHALLOW&ROMASLIGHTLY
standing in front of a background—presents ELEVATEDVIEWPOINTTHEROOFOFAVEHICLE THEFOCUS
itself without an alternative. ISPROGRESSIVELEADINGTHEEYERAPIDLYUPWARDTOTHE
POINTOFFOCUSWHEREAHYENAHASTAKENAFLAMINGO
Certain situations, however, do offer a choice,
0LACINGTHISMAINSUBJECTOFINTERESTHIGHINTHE
and this lies mainly in how you define the image. FRAMEMAKESTHEBESTUSEOFTHISEFFECT
When photographing a group of objects, should
they all appear in sharp focus? Would it be more
effective if just one or a few were sharp and the rest
progressively soft? If so, which ones should be in
focus and which not? Moreover, there might not
necessarily be such a choice of deep or shallow
focus. If the light level is low for the combination
of film and lens, it may only be possible to have
one zone of the image in focus, and in this case
you will be forced into a selective decision.
Whatever the reasons, never underestimate
the visual power of focus. The fact that sharpness
#/,/27!3( 3%,%#4)6%&/#53
is the virtually unquestioned standard is enough
3HALLOWDEPTHOFFIELDISTYPICAL 4HEGREATVALUEOFLIMITEDFOCUSISTHATIT
to show that whatever is focused on becomes the OFMACROIMAGES°INDEED CONCENTRATESATTENTIONONASPECIFICPARTOFTHE
de facto point of attention. Deliberate misuse— VIRTUALLYUNAVOIDABLE4HE IMAGEOFTHEPHOTOGRAPHER´SCHOOSINGANDALL
or rather, unexpected use—works extremely EXTREMEBLURRINGONEITHERSIDE WORKSWELLPROVIDEDTHATTHEOUT
OF
FOCUSELEMENTS
well because it flouts established procedure. OFTHEPOINTOFFOCUSCREATESA REMAININTELLIGIBLE)NTHISCASEASCRIBEWORKING
WASHOFGREENSANDYELLOWSSO INASCRIPTORIUMTHEPURPOSEOFTHETECHNIQUEWAS
If you are using focus in an expected way,
THATTHEMAINSUBJECTBECOMES TOREGISTERTHECALLIGRAPHYDESPITEITSRELATIVELY
it is important to appreciate its different uses THEPURECOLORSOF3PRING SMALLSIZEINTHEFRAME4HESELECTIVEFOCUSIS
with different focal lengths. Even without any PARTICULARLYEXTREMEHERETHROUGHTHEUSEOFA
knowledge of the techniques of photography, X
INCHVIEWCAMERAWITHTHELENSPANELTILTED
most people looking at a photograph are familiar TOGIVETHEMINIMUMDEPTHOFFIELDWITHTHE
LENSATFULLAPERTURE
with the way the focus is normally distributed.
With a telephoto lens, the depth of field is shallow,
and there is typically a range of focus that can be

94 4( %0(/4/'2!0( %2´3%9% '2!0( )#0(/4/'2!0( )#%,%-%.43 95

MOTION

4 he range from sharp to unsharp in independent subject movement (as in the seagull Cartier-Bresson railed against what he called “an 42)0/$7)4(35"*%#4-/6%-%.4 &/,,/7
&/#53-/4)/.",52
photography is not confined to focus. It also example on page 97), and the now familiar insatiable craving for sharpness of images. Is this !DIMLYLITCHAPELINTHE*OKHANG,HASASHOTWITH !SEAGULLINFLIGHTAGAINSTADARKBACKGROUND
THECAMERAONATRIPODWITHAHALF
SECONDSHUTTER PHOTOGRAPHEDWITHAMMLENSATASHUTTER
occurs in a different form as motion blur. As rear-curtain shutter technique in which motion the passion of an obsession? Or do these people
users of digital filters in Photoshop and other
RECOGNIZABLEPATTERN
applications know, there are also different kinds
of motion blur, and each has its own character
and sense. There is the jerky blur from camera
shake, usually producing ghosted double edges.
There is the complex streaking from a subject that
moves during the exposure, and the more linear
one from panning the camera or shooting from
a moving vehicle. There are many combinations
and permutations, such as panning plus
96
streaking from a long exposure is crisply finished
off with a sharp flash image superimposed.
As on pages 94-95, which deal with focus, here
I’m concerned with uses for unsharpness rather
than ways of avoiding it. Convention suggests
that motion blur is a fault, but this very much
depends on the effect that the photographer is
looking for. As an expressive element it can work
very well, and there are strong arguments against
being constantly fixated on sharpness. Henri
SPEED4HEMOVEMENTOFPEOPLEISINEVITABLYBLURRED SPEEDOFONESECONDREVEALSITSWINGMOVEMENTS
hope, by this trompe l’œil [a realist art school] BUTTHISISACCEPTABLEBECAUSETHESETTINGISSHARP INAJUST
technique, to get closer to grips with reality?”
Motion blur, in the appropriate circumstances,
can convey movement and actuality, and the
element of uncertainty in capturing it with
slow exposures brings a sense of experiment to
shooting. Perhaps the most important decision
is knowing whether to deal with motion in this
way or to freeze a particular moment in time.
We will examine the latter on pages 98-99.
4( %0(/4/'2!0( %2´3%9% '2!0( )#0(/4/'2!0( )#%,%-%.43 97
MOMENT

2%0%4)4)6%!#4)/.
#ERTAINKINDSOFACTIONALLOWANTICIPATIONIN
THISCASEAWORKERSHOVELLINGSALTINTOMOUNDS
!FTERSEEINGTHISSEVERALTIMES)CHOSETHIS
MOMENTWITHALOADOFSALTSUSPENDEDINTHE
4 iming is not only an essential quality in
taking most photographs, it has a direct effect
on the actual design of the image. Photographs
of all except completely static subjects—so the
majority of photographs—must be timed. To
take a photograph is to make a picture of an
event. The event may be brief—a matter of
milliseconds—or it may be long enough, as in
the change of daylight over a landscape, that the
timing is chosen in terms of hours.
The very word, of course, invokes one of
have been many attempts to argue against it, most
recently in a post-modernist vein. The American
photographer Arnold Newman, for example,
made this not wholly convincing criticism:
“Every moment is a decisive moment, even if you
have to wait a week for it.... It’s a good phrase,
like all simplistic catchphrases, that really gets
students questioning their own way of working.
The real problem is that so often they think,
‘Well, if it’s the decisive moment, that’s what
I’m looking for.’ What they should be looking
AIRTAKINGALOWCAMERAPOSITIONSOTHATIT
WOULDSHOWCLEARLY
and when the person doing the evaluating is
the photographer, the judgement is even more
critical. I think the real problem is that Henri
Cartier-Bresson was a hard act to follow, and that
good reportage photography that goes for the
decisive moment is a relatively uncommon skill.
Whatever the action, whether it is a person
walking through the scene or clouds gathering
over a mountain, it will certainly have to move
across the frame. The action, therefore, inevitably
!.4)#)0!4)/.
affects the design of the picture, because it alters
)NTHISSCENEOFITINERANTACROBATSINAN)NDIANTOWN
photography’s most famous expressions, “the for is photographs, not the decisive moment. the balance. Take, for example, a scene in front ITISOBVIOUSTHATTHEGIRLISABOUTTOBETOSSEDINTHE
decisive moment.” Henri Cartier-Bresson, the If it takes an hour, two hours, a week, or two of which someone is about to pass. Before this AIRBUTHOWFAR4HEREMAYNOTBEASECONDCHANCE
consummate photojournalist who applied the
phrase to photography, took it from the 17th-
BY
century Cardinal de Retz, who wrote, “Il n’y a
seconds, or one-twentieth of a second—there’s happens, the composition that suggests itself FORTHEREASONTHATTHISIS)NDIAANDASSOONASTHE
no such thing as only one right time. There are is likely to be different from the one including CAMERAISNOTICEDTHEREARELIKELYTOBEPASSERS
STARINGATIT4HESCENEISFIRSTFRAMEDAPPROXIMATELY
many moments. Sometimes one person will the person. Anticipating the changed dynamic
ANDTHENASTHEGIRLISTHROWNUPWARDTHECAMERA
rien dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisif,” take a photograph one moment; another person is always vital. It may seem obvious, but the ISPANNEDUPWARDTOFOLLOW4HEASSUMPTIONISTHAT
(“There is nothing in this world without a will take a photograph the other moment. One natural reaction in any photographic situation ATTHEPEAKTHEIMAGEOFTHEGIRLWILLCLEARTHETOPOF
decisive moment”) and defined it as follows: may not be better, they’ll just be different.” is to follow movement and to make what seems THEBUILDINGSANDTHISDOESINFACTHAPPENTHOUGH
“Inside movement there is one moment at Newman’s view is full of common sense, intuitively to be the most satisfying composition THEREISTIMEONLYFORONEFRAME4HESHUTTERSPEED
&)'52%).!,!.$3#!0% OFSECISENOUGHTOFREEZETHEMOVEMENT
which the elements in motion are in balance. but also compromise, and is in effect making an at any moment. If, however, an image is planned
)NTHISSCENEOFRICETERRACESIN"ALILANDSCAPEISTHE LEFTTOOCCUPYTHEBRIGHTESTPARTOFTHEFLOODEDRICE
Photography must seize upon this moment excuse for the less-good moments. Photography, in advance, it is important to imagine the result
SUBJECTBUTWILLCLEARLYBEENHANCEDBYTHEFARMER TERRACEANDSOBECLEARLYVISIBLE4HEFIRSTSHOTWITH
and hold immobile the equilibrium of it.” as any art, plays to an audience and is judged. when everything will be in place. Then, it is BEINGINACLEARAPPROPRIATEPOSITION4HESITUATION THEMANINALESSSATISFACTORYPOSITIONFARTHERAWAY
This makes such complete sense that it has Some images, and therefore some moments, are usually easier to frame the view as it will be and WASFAIRLYSIMPLETOPLANINADVANCE4HEIDEALPOSITION WASTAKENFORSAFETY)NTHEEVENTTHEMANMOVED
dogged many photographers since, and there indeed considered to be more telling than others, wait for that movement to pass into the frame. FORTHEMANPLANTINGRICEWASFELTTOBEATTHEFAR ASANTICIPATEDBACKTOTHEBASKETSATLOWERLEFT

98 4( %0(/4/'2!0( %2´3%9% '2!0( )#0(/4/'2!0( )#%,%-%.43 99