The Sharper Image

Understanding Hyperfocal Focusing

By Blair Howard - March 2007

I’m sure the term, hyperfocal focusing, is a familiar one to many photographers, but I also know that it’s a bit of mystery to a great many more. Anyway, I’ve had several requests for an explanation, so here it is.. 

What exactly does hyperfocal focusing mean and why is it important in certain types of photography, especially those images shot for publication purposes? 

Hyperfocal focusing is a technique for utilizing the maximum depth-of-field capabilities of any given lens. It’s a method by which you can, given the right choice of lens, achieve acceptable focus in your images from just a few feet in front of the camera all the way to infinity. This entire area would be your “zone of acceptable focus.”  The image right shows what I mean.

When should you use hyperfocal focusing?  

Well, for starters, it’s used most commonly in landscape photography when you want the largest depth of field possible for the given lens you’re using.  But more than that, it’s the one technique that will ensure most of your photographs are technically acceptable for publication or by stock photo agencies. For editors and photo buyers to consider your photograph for publication it’s key that your image is in focus – not parts of it, but the entire thing, from front to back; it must have a great depth of field. 

So, when I say “a great depth of field” I’m talking miles, not feet which is why this technique is most commonly linked to landscapes.   

That means then, that it won’t do you any good to think about hyperfocal techniques if you’re shooting close-ups or even city streets.  The key word I want you to keep in mind when you think about hyperfocal focusing is “infinity”. 

When you want your zone of acceptable focus to extend from just a few feet in front of the camera all the way to infinity, you’ll consider this technique.  Hyperfocal means all the way to infinity, or the farthest point in the image. 

Note: the greatest depth of field is achieved with a wide-angle lens set at a small aperture, say f-16 or smaller. 

Here's another example: The image right is poorly focused - the two bales of hay are fuzzy while the barn and trees in the distance are sharp.

Here’s how it works… 

How to Get the Best Picture with the Maximum Depth of Field 

In any given picture the zone of acceptable focus extends from approximately 1/3 in front of your point of focus to 2/3 behind it. The idea is to bring the point of focus forward so that the 1/3 of the picture in front of it begins as close to the camera as possible while making sure the 2/3 of the zone of focus behind it extends all the way to infinity, but not beyond it as it normally does. This means if you focus on a point 2/3 into the picture, the closest 1/3 will be out of the zone and so will the farthest 1/3; it will extend beyond infinity. 

Now look at the same photograph properly focused. The bales are sharp and so are the barn trees in the distance.

The easiest way I can think of to explain this is to first imagine that you want to focus on infinity.  Let’s say the farthest thing the eye can see is a line of trees on the horizon.  Let’s pretend that I wanted to focus on them.  

Now, remember that I said that your zone of acceptable focus extends from approximately 1/3 in front of your point of focus (the trees) to 2/3 behind it? 

Well, for me and other photographers in this situation, that really only means that the trees (my point of focus) will be sharp as will everything that falls approximately 1/3 of the distance in front of it. The foreground extending outward 1/3 of the distance from the camera, depending upon the f-stop I use, might well be out of focus. Certainly the first 50 feet, or so, will be out of focus. 

The other 2/3 that would typically fall behind the subject are useless because you’re already at infinity.  You can’t see any further and so there’s nothing back there to stay sharp. The front edge of ruined building is about 1/3 into the picture. 

What’s worse is that not only will I loose 2/3 of my possible zone of acceptable focus (the area behind the trees), but clearly those flowers in the foreground aren’t going to make it into the zone at all.  They’re much closer than 1/3 the distance between the trees and the camera lens.  In fact, they look like they’re right at my feet.  

So what do I do?  I want the trees in sharp focus and I also want as much of the foreground as possible to be in sharp focus. 

Note: As you can see, the image to the right is in sharp focus from just a few feet in front of the camera all the way to infinity. The thistle is sharply focused and so are the barn and trees in the far distance.

This is where hyperfocal distance comes in. 

Imagine again that I focus on the trees and that my zone of acceptable focus falls 1/3 of the distance in front of it. 

Now (and this is the key) imagine that I don’t focus on the trees at all.  Instead, I focus on the leading edge of the ruined building. Yes, it probably would have been in focus when I focused on the trees in the last shot (the farthest edge from the point of focus of the first 1/3 zone – a point roughly 1/3 of the distance from the camera to trees). 

This edge… this point where I would have still been in focus had I focused on infinity is actually the hyperfocal point for that particular lens.  And it’s that distance between that point and me (or my camera’s lens) that is the hyperfocal distance. As you can see from the photograph, the entire image, from what looks like a few inches in front of the camera all the way to the trees, is acceptably sharp. 

OK, I understand that this is a really difficult concept to get your head around, but it is so important that you do. How many times have you seen images with the foreground completely out of focus? No editor or stock photo agency will accept an image like that. 

You will get the greatest depth of field when you focus your lens at its hyperfocal distance.   By definition, your depth of field will extend out to infinity, but not beyond. So, if you focus on that point – THE HYPERFOCAL POINT - instead of infinity (roughly 1/3 of the distance from the camera to the farthest point you can see), you'll have the largest depth of field that your lens in capable of at any given aperture.

Your zone of acceptable focus, however, might extend from a few inches in front of the camera to a point just 50 or 60 yards away, as you can see in this image. Look at the tree roots. They are sharp as a tack, so are the trees beyond the walker. There is nothing in this image that is not in focus..

So, I always… always focus on a point about a third of the way into my scene from the foreground out to infinity. This produces good, sharp images with a lot of depth of field.   

Now, I know that sharp focus from a few feet in front of the camera is not what everyone wants all the time, but it is what publishers, stock photo agencies and photo buyers want most of the time. 

For an in-depth explanation of hyperfocal focusing and other techniques you might like to check out our online course, ”Amazing Photographs – How to Take Them, How to Sell Them.”

This article is copyright © Blair Howard 2006. All rights reserved. You can reprint this article for free but you must retain the internal links and the credit line at the bottom of the article intact.

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