How To Set The Autofocus For Macro Photography

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How To Set The Autofocus For Macro Photography

Macro photography is a genre where focus is fundamental to a successful image. Macro photography is also the one genre where perfect focus is perhaps hardest to achieve.

This quick photography tutorial will show you how to set your camera’s autofocus in 3 simple steps so you can start taking consistently sharp macro photos.

How to set your autofocus for macro photography

Step 1: Switch to AF-S
To stop your autofocus from ‘hunting ‘ for something to lock onto, set the focusing mode to One Shot AF or Autofocus-Single (AF-S). This enables you to choose a fixed focus point.



Step 2: Select the focus point
Adjust your autofocus point in the viewfinder as you compose the image, and place it directly over the spot you want to focus on – in this case the butterfly’s head. Press the shutter release halfway to focus, then take the picture.



Step 3: Apply sharpening
All digital photos benefit from software sharpening. Open the image in Photoshop Elements, examine it at 100% and click Enhance>Unsharp Mark (in CS, it’s Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask). Boost Amount to 50-100 and Radius to 1-2 for pin-sharp shots.




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