There's nothing worse than seeing a portrait with beautiful shallow depth of field when the eyes are not sharp. It's all too easy of an occurrence when shooting at wide apertures that have a small margin for error. Thankfully, advancements in camera technology have turned this regular headache into a thing of the past.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul, which is why they really need to be in focus in your photographs. The good news for those who struggle to nail focus is that recent technological developments have moved this responsibility to the camera rather than the photographer. This change is revolutionary for photographers, as it allows them to concentrate on many of the other important factors that go into making a great image. This week, photographer and educator Glyn Dewis is back with an insightful video on this very topic as he shows the power of the subject detection feature in the Sony a7R IV. Not only does Dewis show the importance of such a feature for human subjects but also for animals. In many ways, capturing pin-sharp eyes in animals is even more of a difficult task, which is why I was surprised to see that Sony has a dedicated feature dedicated to animal eyes. The video goes on to demonstrate how this technology can impressively tell the difference between a human and a dog's eye as the camera moves between the two subjects.
For the Sony shooters out there, Dewis shows where in the camera's settings their subject detection can be found and how to switch it on. Maybe I'm a little bit behind the curve on these advancements, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well this technology worked out in the field. Sony is not the only camera manufacturer to take advantage of eye and face detection, which can only be good news for photographers as these things develop. This video has made me realize that a feature like subject detection would be a welcome addition to the camera I buy next. Until that purchase, I would consider renting a camera when the occasion would benefit from it.
