What eye to focus on when shooting wide open

[OreoCookie]

I've gotten a lot better trying to focus on the eyes when shooting portraits wide-open. The D7000's AF system makes nailing the AF a lot easier than my old D80. I've noticed, however, when shooting wide open with either of my primes (30 mm f/1.4 or 50 mm f/1.8) as well as my 80-200 mm f/2.8 that often only one eye can be in focus. So which one should I go for, the one closest to me? Is there a `rule'/suggestion and if so, what is the explanation?

Note that since I'm thinking of available light photography, stopping down isn't an option.

 

[harrisondavies]

My opinion is the closest eye, as technically anything in front is blurred and everything behind is blurred, has a better appeal to the onlooker.

 

[H2Ockey]

I'm not sure if there are any hard and fast rules, but I would say from some recent experiences the closer eye = better.

I had a nice outdoor portrait of my daughter and at first zoomed in I was a little upset and a bit confused by the lack sharpness. Then I looked at the other eye. It was a little funny to me that I looked first at the closer eye, and feel that I basically lost a potentially great shot by having focus on the wrong eye. It just doesn't sit well with me on the farther eye.

 

[compuwar]

as well as my 80-200 mm f/2.8 that often only one eye can be in focus.

Back up or shoot wider- at 80mm on a D7000, DoF is half a foot at 10' and over a foot at 15'. You need at least 20' at 200mm, though 25' would be better. I can see it with the faster lenses, but with the 80-200mm this should be a rare occurrence at normal portrait distances on a DX body. I certainly can't remember an event where I had an issue when I shot my D2x and 80-200.

Paul

 

[OreoCookie]

Back up or shoot wider- at 80mm on a D7000, DoF is half a foot at 10' and over a foot at 15'. You need at least 20' at 200mm, though 25' would be better.

That's what the DOF calculators tell us, but in practice, the actual dof seems smaller.

I've got two examples, one old shot at 135 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 s (click in the image for a full-res version):

Here's a 100 % crop of the eyes:

I've got another one shot with the 30 mm Sigma at f/2, 1/60 s.

Here's a 100 % crop of the eyes:

I'm not unhappy with the shots (especially the second one) nor am I a pixel peeper where a good photo is tack sharp everywhere by definition, I'd just like to hone my skills a little and do things that were random in the past become (semi-)conscious.

 

[elfy]

While it's not a hard and fast rule by any means (are there any when it comes to art?) it's generally accepted that you should focus on the closest eye.