Most cameras available to buy today have auto-focus systems that will pretty much
ensure you always get a crisp image. However, is the correct part of the image in
focus? Is your camera working hand in hand with your creativity, or is it all a bit
hit and miss?

Here’s a few tips to help you get into focus …

Firstly, always try to focus on what is most important in your composition, and
disregard the rest. Think about what you want to achieve with your photograph, and
what you want people to see when they look at your work. If you get too hung up on
the details, the moment will have passed and you will just be slowed down. In most
photographs, there is one main element that needs to be in focus, so this is what
you need to concentrate on.

Ok, so you’ve decided what you want to focus on. But what if your auto focus isn’t
focussing properly on your main element? Try focussing on another object that is the
same distance away as the item you want to focus on, and try taking the shot again.

If you are taking a close up shot, it can be easier to focus by moving your camera
backwards and forwards away from the subject, than rely on your auto-focus function.

If you are trying to shoot a moving object (which believe me, can be very
difficult), try changing your focus setting to servo or continuous mode.
Alternatively, some cameras will have a sport setting for this kind of shot. If you
are lucky enough to have a camera that has manual controls, get the manual out and
learn how to use them! Try to make the most out of the equipment you have. It will
open countless doors for your creativity.

If your camera has a setting that allows you to make a choice between a single
focussing point or multiple focussing points, choose the single option. This will
give you better precision and also speed up your photography.

If after everything, you’re still not sure, take the picture anyway. It’s better to
have an unsharp image that you can later play with digitally and improve, than no
image at all. If you don’t have any image manipulation software, it is readily
available for download online.

Anyway, that’s all for now, coming up soon – tips for getting the perfect exposure.

An early member of the 1970s rock group ELO was killed when his van was crushed by a bale of hay, British police said.

Action: detail from Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘Head-spring, a Flying Pigeon Interfering’ The Horse in Motion Eadweard Muybridge: Back Somersault c1887 Eadweard Muybridge : Females & Children Dancing, 1887 The man with the long beard looks more than a little odd, his deep-set, strangely catlike eyes seeming to look backwards into an intense inner world.

Beloved of backpackers and package tourists alive the Lonely Planet guides have long been part of the holiday landscape.

Sometimes brilliantly surreal, always with an unsparing documentary eye, Tomatsu’s images capture a country in the flux of postwar change Untitled, from series Chewing Gum and Chocolate, Yokosuka, 1959.

Lorain K. Francis shares a September show with two other photographers at Union’s Badger CafA & Pub.

On view all month at the RSU 13 Central Office in Rockland is work by secondary art teachers, from left, Richard Alfred Johnson, Su Johnson and Holly L. Smith.