Sometimes it is all about Focusing

Almost all cameras these days have AutoFocus- AF. I am sure you know that pressing the shutter release button half way, you can tell a camera to focus for you. 

Probably you may not know this part. When you press it half way first time, camera will focus on the nearest object. This is how most cameras work. Here is the first photo I took of the Moon today with my Panasonic FZ200 fully extended- 24x zoomed.

Focusing issue in a camera

As you can see, it focused on the closest tree branch and hence it is in focus but the Moon is out of focus. My interest was in capturing full moon.

Second time, I kept pressing the Shutter Release button half way multiple times until the lens had it focused on the moon. Most cameras have these feature. If you do not want it to focus on the closest object. leave the shutter release button and then press it half way again. This time, it will focus on some other object in the frame. Keep doing it until you see the object you are interested in in focus.

See the second picture I got when I was sure the focusing area- the green square on most cameras that indiacate the focus lock- was on the Moon!

Take photo of Full moon

I hope this small lesson helps you take better photos. Most cameras have this Trial and Error sort of feature built into it to help you select the right object to focus on!

If you are still not able to focus properly, you can change the AF to MF.- from Auto Focus to Manual Focus and do your own focusing!

Enjoy photography!