Lessons
Class Introduction
17:26 2Welcome to Photography
13:08 3Camera Types Overview
02:00 4Viewing Systems
28:43 5Viewing Systems Q&A
08:45 6Lens Systems
32:06 7Shutter Systems
13:17 8Shutter Speeds
10:47Choosing a Shutter Speed
31:30 10Shutter Speeds for Handholding
08:36 11Shutter Speed Pop Quiz
09:06 12Camera Settings
25:35 13General Camera Q&A
14:38 14Sensor Sizes: The Basics
15:33 15Sensor Sizes: Compared
19:10 16Pixels
20:13 17ISO
21:13 18Sensor Q&A
13:34 19Focal Length: Overview
11:09 20Focal Length: Angle of View
15:09 21Wide Angle Lenses
08:48 22Telephoto Lenses
25:23 23Angle of View Q&A
09:29 24Fish Eye Lenses
10:39 25Tilt & Shift Lenses
23:42 26Subject Zone
17:19 27Lens Speed
09:56 28Aperture Basics
08:46 29Depth of Field
21:49 30Aperture Pop Quiz
13:23 31Lens Quality
18:30 32Photo Equipment Life Cycle
03:57 33Light Meter Basics
09:25 34Histogram
15:25 35Histogram Pop Quiz and Q&A
10:58 36Dynamic Range
06:03 37Exposure Modes
15:58 38Manual Exposure
09:38 39Sunny 16 Rule
05:54 40Exposure Bracketing
10:18 41Exposure Values
27:21 42Exposure Pop Quiz
26:43 43Focus Overview
16:15 44Focusing Systems
05:15 45Autofocus Controls
11:56 46Focus Points
07:35 47Autofocusing on Subjects
20:19 48Manual Focus
07:52 49Digital Focusing Assistance
03:40 50Focus Options: DSLR and Mirrorless
04:58 51Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF
05:20 52Depth of Field Pop Quiz
12:14 53Depth of Field Camera Features
04:54 54Lens Sharpness
09:58 55Camera Movement
05:20 56Handheld and Tripod Focusing
04:32 57Advanced Techniques
07:12 58Hyperfocal Distance
06:50 59Hyperfocal Quiz and Focusing Formula
04:36 60Micro adjust and AF Fine Tune
05:34 61Focus Stacking and Post Sharpening
06:00 62Focus Problem Pop Quiz
18:07 63The Gadget Bag: Camera Accessories
25:30 64The Gadget Bag: Lens Accessories
12:46 65The Gadget Bag: Neutral Density Filter
20:43 66The Gadget Bag: Lens Hood and Teleconverters
08:55 67The Gadget Bag: Lens Adapters
05:43 68The Gadget Bag: Lens Cleaning Supplies
04:34 69The Gadget Bag: Macro Lenses and Accessories
15:57 70The Gadget Bag: Flash and Lighting
05:08 71The Gadget Bag: Tripods and Accessories
18:50 72The Gadget Bag: Custom Cases
11:20 7310 Thoughts on Being a Photographer
07:37 74Direct Sunlight
25:04 75Indirect Sunlight
18:49 76Sunrise and Sunset
18:39 77Cloud Light
14:48 78Golden Hour
09:50 79Light Pop Quiz
07:53 80Light Management
14:00 81Artificial Light
13:56 82Speedlights
16:02 83Off-Camera Flash
27:38 84Advanced Flash Techniques
09:49 85Editing Overview
08:24 86Editing Set-up
08:06 87Importing Images
16:45 88Best Use of Files and Folders
20:54 89Culling
20:56 90Develop: Fixing in Lightroom
18:13 91Develop: Treating Your Images
10:53 92Develop: Optimizing in Lightroom
14:51 93Art of Editing Q&A
06:01 94Composition Overview
06:53 95Photographic Intrusions
10:10 96Mystery and Working the Scene
16:18 97Point of View
09:11 98Better Backgrounds
16:02 99Unique Perspective
11:02 100Angle of View
15:06 101Subject Placement
41:14 102Subject Placement Q&A
05:18 103Panorama
07:39 104Multishot Techniques
13:57 105Timelapse
16:13 106Human Vision vs The Camera
20:07 107Visual Perception
08:35 108Visual Balance Test
22:56 109Visual Drama
12:25 110Elements of Design
28:57 111The Photographic Process
12:28 112Working the Shot
27:38 113The Moment
04:42 114One Hour Photo - Colby Brown
1:04:32 115One Hour Photo - John Keatley
1:03:05 116One Hour Photo - Art Wolfe
59:01 117One Hour Photo - Rocco Ancora
1:01:20 118One Hour Photo - Mike Hagen
1:01:20 119One Hour Photo - Lisa Carney
1:00:52 120One Hour Photo - Ian Shive
1:08:00 121One Hour Photo - Sandra Coan
1:10:29 122One Hour Photo - Daniel Gregory
1:06:07 123One Hour Photo - Scott Robert Lim
1:05:41Lesson Info
Hyperfocal Distance
Alright, next up, hyperfocal distance, one of my favorite things in photography. Alright, the focusing distance to achieve the maximum depth of field. This is something landscape photographers talk about 'cause they want to have lots of things in focusing. So, the Depth of Field formula and this, I don't want to get too firmly planted in what I say here it is about one third in front an two thirds behind the Plane of Focus. As you focus closer it becomes pretty much 50/ but on things more towards in the distant. It reaches a little bit in front and more behind that subject. Now, Depth of Field, which is what we're talking about here, varies according to those three same principles we've been talking about for the entire class. Focal Length, Aperture, and Subject Distance. Those are the same things we've talked about in multiple sections. So what we're trying to do is figure out where do we focus the lens to give us most everything in focus? So, here's our example. We're gonna be focusi...
ng at the ten mark on the yard stick. Okay? And so we get a little bit in front and a bit more behind. So let's just say that we chose a shallow aperture. Doesn't really matter the number but a very shallow aperture. Perhaps we might get one inch in front and two inches in back. As we stop the aperture down it might grow to two inches in front and four inches in back. If we stop it down again we might get three inches in front and six inches in back. So this is how the depth of the field grows. If we stop it all the way down to the smallest opening it's gonna extend quite a bit in front and in back. So you see we're focused. We're still focused on the ten. Now, if we're taking a picture, you know the big landscape, the mistake that a lot of people make is that they focus their lens on infinity. And what happens when they do that is we lose all of that focus range behind the focusing point. The smarter thing to do in that situation if you know what to do is to focus back just a little bit so the back edge of your focusing equals with infinity. And so it's finding this magic spot to focus, which is a little bit of a challenge. And that's what the hyperfocal point is. And so thinking about that same scenario but from the side, alright, we can focus on the mountains. We have a shallow depth of field, we're not gonna get very much in focus. We can change it at 22 to get more in focus but that doesn't necessarily reach those objects in the foreground that we want. We can focus on the foreground but we know get really shallow depth of field in the foreground and that may not reach the mountains behind us. But there is likely to be some sort of magic spot that you can focus that reaches both in front and behind to get everything in focus. Depends a little bit on your positioning and what lens you have as to whether you can do this but it's something that can be done in most situations. Especially with wide-angle lenses. And so images where I'm using the hyperfocal focusing system where I want things in the foreground in focus and things in the background in focus. And once again these are typically gonna be found in landscape type shots. But these can be used in all different sorts of situations. Got the foreground in focus, I have the background in focus. And in this case I'm not focusing on the background, I'm not focusing on the foreground, I'm focusing on something in between so that focus extends both in front and behind the depth of field. Now this distance is listed on a few select lenses. It used to be listed on more of the manual focus lenses. And so we can see there's a little depth of field chart down here. It's in my opinion, very wimpy on the Canon. A little bit wimpier on the 24. This is the 2.8 version of the lens here. That's not very much information to work with. That's a really hard slide ruler to work with to get things lined up. Leica makes a much better hyperfocal scale. Alright, this is a beautiful scale over here on the left side of the screen. And this lens over here on the right, oh I hate these things. There's no focusing information, there's no hyperfocal infoma- it's terrible. No distance scale at all, terrible. If I had my way this is what a nice focusing would look like. Okay, I got it in feet, got things in meters, and this is what a depth of field scale would look like. Now, unfortunately most lenses don't have this and I think photographers would be wise to understand how this works and I wish that we had our older manual focusing lenses because we used to use this. So right now I'm clearly focused at 2 meters. I'm focused at 3 meters. If I set F11 I will have everything from 2 to 5 meters in focus because that's where my F11 marks are at. So I can see where I'm focusing and where focus will extend in front and behind my plane of subject. What if we focus on infinity? If we focus on infinity at F11 we have thrown away some of our focus area. And so if we want more stuff in focus this is a bad technique. We made a mistake in where we focus. What we would want to do is adjust our focus about here. That way infinity is still in focus 'cause it's at this mark and we reach all the way down to 5 meters. Now we'll take just a little aside here, just want to say something different. Is that these marks that may be on your camera, these indications which may be in an App on your phone, you may or may not agree with. Somebody else said "it's gonna be in focus at F11". Somebody else who has a higher set of standards might say "No you need F16". This is not based on science, this is based on opinion. And some of these opinions we're done back in the 1940s when we had different quality of equipment. And so you may need to change these numbers on the fly yourself 'cause they're not tight enough to your standards. Alright, so realize it's a subjective scale down here. If you wanted the most depth of field here you would focus on 5 meters, set F22, and focus would extend from 2 meters all the way up to infinity. So that is the hyperfocal point of that particular lens. Unfortunately, lenses don't have these beautiful scales on them so it's a little bit more difficult to work with out in the field.
Class Materials
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Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Love love all John Greengo classes! Wish to have had him decades ago with this info, but no internet then!! John is the greatest photography teacher I have seen out there, and I watch a lot of Creative Live classes and folks on YouTube too. John is so detailed and there are a ton of ah ha moments for me and I know lots of others. I think I own 4 John Greengo classes so far and want to add this one and Travel Photography!! I just drop everything to watch John on Creative Live. I wish sometime soon he would teach a Lightroom class and his knowledge on photography post editing.!!! That would probably take a LOT OF TIME but I know John would explain it soooooo good, like he does all his Photography classes!! Thank you Creative Live for having such a wonderful instructor with John Greengo!! Make more classes John, for just love them and soak it up! There is soooo much to learn and sometimes just so overwhelming. Is there anyway you might do a Motivation class!!?? Like do this button for this day, and try this technique for a week, or post this subject for this week, etc. Motivation and inspiration, and playing around with what you teach, needed so much and would be so fun.!! Just saying??? Awaiting gadgets class now, while waiting for lunch break to be over. All the filters and gadgets, oh my. Thank you thank you for all you teach John, You are truly a wonderful wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend folks listening and buying your classes.
Eve
I don't think that adjectives like beautiful, fantastic or excellent can describe the course and classes with John Greengo well enough. I've just bought my first camera and I am a total amateur but I fell in love with photography while watching the classes with John. It is fun, clear, understandable, entertaining, informative and and and. He is not only a fabulous photographer but a great teacher as well. Easy to follow, clear explanations and fantastic visuals. The only disadvantage I can list here that he is sooooo good that keeps me from going out to shoot as I am just glued to the screen. :-) Don't miss it and well worth the money invested! Thank you John!
Vlad Chiriacescu
Wow! John is THE best teacher I have ever had the pleasure of learning from, and this is the most comprehensive, eloquent and fun course I have ever taken (online or off). If you're even / / interested in photography, take this course as soon as possible! You might find out that taking great photos requires much more work than you're willing to invest, or you might get so excited learning from John that you'll start taking your camera with you EVERYWHERE. At the very least, you'll learn the fundamental inner workings and techniques that WILL help you get a better photo. Worried about the cost? Well, I've taken courses that are twice as expensive that offer less than maybe a tenth of the value. You'll be much better off investing in this course than a new camera or a new lens. I cannot reccomend John and this course enough!