Here’s a bit of help to get photos you are happy with.

• Getting pics in focus takes some thought, especially for macro photography.
• First, you need to understand what is called “depth of field.”
• Depth of field is just a fancy way of talking about how much of the picture looks clear and sharp.
• If only your friend looks sharp but the trees behind them look blurry, that’s called a shallow depth of field.
  👉 It’s like your eyes are focusing on just one thing.
• If your friend AND the trees AND the playground all look sharp, that’s called a deep depth of field.
  👉 It’s like everything is in focus at once.
• Simple way to think about it:
• Shallow = small amount in focus (just one thing)
• Deep = lots of things in focus (near and far).

The microscope you will use has a VERY shallow depth of field. This means, you MUST hold the microscope lens VERY close to what you are taking a picture of. If you are too far away (probably more than 5 millimeters) your photo will be blurry.

While the camera you will use has a “MACRO” function, I’ve learned something about using it. When you try to focus on a subject, the camera will actually try to focus on EVERYTHING in the frame (the window you are looking through). This means that, if there is space between what you are focusing on and the rest of the frame, the camera will try to focus on everything. Your subject will be out of focus.

Taking Other Pics

• Think about everything in the frame and pay attention to what you want the person looking at the photo to pay attention to.
• Try to not include anything that will be a distraction.
• Even think about what is behind the subject of your photo.
• Someone looking at the photo should have their eye automatically drawn to your subject.

Take a look at the photos below.

There really is no point of focus with the bench in the center of the photo. Your eye is drawn all over the place. With the bench close to you, your eye is quickly drawn to the bench.

The picnic shelter photos are a little trickier. While your eye instantly sees the shelter, the photo with a little bit of open space on the right is more about the scene, so it depends on what you want the viewer to focus on.

It’s kind of the same thing with the photos of the barn. However, the photo closer to the barn does not clearly show that it is a barn, which is what you want someone to pay attention to. Even more, the light on the ground is also distracting. You can clearly tell it’s a barn on the other picture, AND your eye is drawn right away to the fuller building.

How about the tree photos? At first glance, both photos pretty much look the same. However, the open space to the left of the tree in one pic is a distraction. This means the viewer knows right away that you (the photographer) want them to notice the tree.

Rule of Thirds

Imagine your picture is a tic-tac-toe board.

The rule of thirds means you divide your picture into 9 equal boxes using 2 lines going across and 2 lines going up and down.

Now, instead of putting the most important thing (like a person, pet, or tree) right in the middle, you try to place it:

• on one of the lines, or
• where the lines cross (the corners of the middle box)

👉 Those crossing spots are like “sweet spots” where pictures look more interesting.

Example:

• If you’re taking a picture of your friend, don’t put them smack in the center.
• Put them a little to the side, lined up with one of those grid lines.

Why it works:
It makes photos feel more natural and fun to look at—like your eyes get to explore the picture instead of just staring at the middle.

Easy way to remember: Don’t always put things in the center — try the tic-tac-toe trick!

Here’s a 60 second video I found explaining the rule of thirds.