In portraits, should both eyes be in focus or is one eye acceptable?
Asked 2/7/2013
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When shooting portraits with a fast lens like a 50mm f/1.4, shallow depth of field can leave one eye sharp and the other soft. I’ve learned to focus on the eyes, but I’m unsure whether having only one eye in focus looks amateurish or can be a valid creative choice. Are there general guidelines for when both eyes should be sharp versus when one eye is enough?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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What should be in focus is the subject of your image: that which you wish to call to attention.
When it comes to people as the subjects, our ingrained behavior is to look at the eyes. This where we look when talking to someone, its what is the focus of our attention. Therefore, when looking at a photo of a person, we notice immediately if the eyes are out of focus...it makes the image look 'not quite right'. Usually you hear such things as the image being 'soft' if the eyes are out of focus. In fact, if only the eyes are in focus, almost no one will complain about your image being 'soft' even though, in fact, it is quite soft.
Having both eyes focused is a creative decision, but it may impact the acceptance of your image. Adjusting the distance or aperture slightly will bring the other eye into focus, as well instructing your subject to move their head, so this is completely controllable. Of course, I suspect your shot is a candid, and you had no control of your subject's head.
You should become familiar with the DOF or Depth of Field calculations, and understand how this impacts your photography. The excellent DOF Master is a great place to start. For example, with your 50mm, wide open at f1.4, at a distance of 1 meter, you have 2cm of focus to work with (assuming APS-C camera). anything more than 2cm out of the plane of focus will be blurry. Play around with the distances and aperture settings to learn the limits of your lenses. For example, by simply stepping back half a meter, you would gain 2.5 more cm of focus distance, and the other eye would easily be in focus.
Originally by user4880. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4880
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
There’s no absolute rule, but a good guideline is: the eye you want the viewer to connect with should be in focus. In portraits, people naturally look at the eyes first, so if the eyes look soft, the image can feel “off.”
For most conventional portraits, the nearest eye should be sharp, and having both eyes in focus is often preferred if the face is angled enough that depth of field becomes an issue. Stopping down a little from f/1.4 usually helps while still keeping a nicely blurred background, and many lenses are also a bit sharper slightly stopped down.
That said, one eye in focus can absolutely be a deliberate creative choice. If your composition clearly emphasizes a particular eye or gesture, selective focus can work very well. The key is that it should look intentional, not accidental.
So: for safe, broadly appealing portraits, aim for at least the closest eye, and often both eyes. For a more stylized image, one eye sharp can be perfectly valid if it supports the picture.
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