What is raw and manual focus?

Question

what is the difference if shooting in raw...and when someone says focus on the eyes how exactly do u do that...i am assumin in manual focus??

Answer 1

shooting in raw format allows the camera to process how the camera "sees" images after shooting them. this can be useful for changing white balance, exposure, saturation, etc.

manual focus means that the camera does not focus the image for you. you do it yourself by turning the focus ring on the lens.

often when taking portrait photos you will see a blurry background. this is because of depth of field which is a function of the aperture not the focus. the eyes are the point of focus in the photo making them the most clear and sharp element whereas everything else gets more blurred as it moves farther from the eyes.

Answer 2

The reason that focusing on the eyes is a good idea is that the eyes are usually the highest area of contrast within a face, thus easier on which to focus. Also, they are the first part of face people look at, so need to be sharp.

Answer 3

Agree with the comments about selecting your focus point in the camera.  I am always changing my focus point when changing from horizontal to vertical format and back again.  You get used to it.  

Also, watch a photographer taking portraits some time.  You will see them actually move the camera a bit to get the focus on the eyes, press the shutter half way, and then move the camera again to get the composition they want.  Every shot, the exact same thing.  

If there is one thing you want in focus, it is the eyes.

Answer 4

Focusing... most viewvinders have a set of Red Dots and when you focus one of them (or several) will lit indicating what part of the frame you are actually focusing on.

However, when people say 'Focus on the eyes' it means something different.  They refer to the fact that you should Expose for the eyes so you get their eyes properly lit and not too dark as it happens when you expose for their face (cheeks or forehead).  The objective is to draw people's attention to the eyes of your subject

Answer 5

RAW is an uncompressed file format.  Essentially you are getting all of the data that the sensor captures.  When you save as a tiff/jpeg... the file is "processed" by the software in the camera, and data is changed (ie. sharpened, color shifts, or thrown out all together).

You can focus on the eyes using manual or auto focus... what they mean is  is that you want your focal plane to be on the face of your subject.  When taken at different angles, it's easy to use auto focus on different parts of the body unintentionally.

Answer 6

RAW is the the setting where the camera stores almost all of the data gathered by the sensor in the file. It gives you more control later on the the picture. With JPEG the camera makes certain decisions and discards the data it does not need. I always shoot RAW but the cost is larger file size and a couple of more steps post production. To me its well worth it and most folks after going RAW to not go back to shooting JPEG though they may save post production output to JPEG

As to shooting manual most DSLR have a switch on the lens or a setting in the camera menu that you can set to manual focus then you turn a ring on the lens to get focus where you want to.

Focussing on the eyes can also be done with the autofocus. If your camera lets you select the focus point set the point where the eyes are in the composed picture. If not then put the focus point of your camera over the subjects eyes. Press the shutter release button halfway. Holding that push the focus lock button that is usually located nearby, Move the camera to compose the photo the way you want and push the shutter release the rest of the way to take the picture. It sound complicated but its really not. After doing it 2 or 3 times it can be done without conscious thought.

hope this helps