Hyperfocal focusing: how to calculate the best distance to focus at

Knowing how to calculate hyperfocal distance isn’t actually as complex as its technical name implies, but mastering this important photography technique can make all the difference to your photography. Here we answer all of the common questions photographers have about hyperfocal focusing.

Images by Marcus Hawkins. Click on the infographic to expand.

Hyperfocal focusing? Sounds a bit ‘new age‘…

It’s actually an old-school technique that helps you maximise sharpness in a photo. A camera lens can only focus to a single distance at any one time, but there’s an area that extends from that point, both towards the camera and towards the horizon, where things still look sharp. This area is known as the depth of field.

The DoF isn’t a fixed distance: several factors can make it wider or narrower, including the lens’ focal length and the aperture you set.

The distance to which the lens is focused makes a big difference, which is where hyperfocal focusing can help.

SEE MORE: 7 common focusing problems that plague photographers (and how to avoid them)

Where is the hyperfocal focusing mode on my camera?

It hasn’t got one. You set your lens to manual focus, then focus it to the hyperfocal distance.

And the hyperfocal distance is…?

The point at which everything from half of this distance through to infinity falls within the depth of field, and so looks acceptably sharp.

Shorter focal lengths and smaller apertures bring the hyperfocal distance closer to the camera, increasing the DoF as a result.

Longer focal lengths and larger apertures have the opposite effect, pushing the hyperfocal distance back and decreasing the depth of field.