Autofocus unravelled

James Abbott

James Abbott is a freelance photographer and photography journalist based in Cambridge. He specialises in landscape and portrait photography, but has photographed practically every subject you can think of. www.jamesaphoto.co.uk

For controlled static portraits, use manual AF point selection to ensure your subject's eyes are pin-sharp

1 AF points explained

Autofocus points are small points within the viewfinder, or on the LCD screen, that can be activated and used to help you know where your camera is focusing and to direct the focus where you want it to be in the frame. To focus, all you have to do is depress the shutter button halfway and position the active focus point over the subject in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen. The active focus point is visible on the LCD screen and can be repositioned using the d-pad. While cameras with optical viewfinders often have fewer focus points than those with electronic viewfinders, switching to live view with these cameras provides the ability to position the active focus point almost anywhere on the camera sensor.

2 Auto vs manual point selection

When shooting