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When we look at something we tend to see everything in focus, no matter where we look. Our eyes have the ability to refocus very fast on the subject and we have very good 'Depth of Field' vision (the area in front of and behind the subject remaining in sharp focus), meaning most of what we see ahead of us is in focus. With few exceptions, Camera lenses can not replicate this all the while, they need help and an automatic set Camera will adjust everything to give an average based around two settings of 1/200th second shutter speed and f8 lens aperture and these two settings will give a correctly exposed picture with virtually everything in the picture in sharp focus.

Use a Camera to take a picture of a classic car at a show and the results will be pretty good, but use the same Camera with the exact same settings for taking a picture of a model of that classic car and you will see parts of the model will be out of focus. As you have had to move in closer to the model, to fill the viewfinder's frame or the LCD screen on the back of the Camera the Depth of field changes dramatically, a different lens will have to be used or change the settings on the Camera.

If you use so-called decent equipment like a proper Digital SLR or Bridge Camera, chances are you can change the lens for one giving you a wider angle of view, automatically giving you more Depth of Field around the subject, the model car.

The first photo below shows what parts of the picture are in focus, this is quite a narrow Depth of Field and corners of the model will be out of focus. If you put the model parallel to the lens, the second photo, all of it will be in focus because it just fits in the Depth of Field area.

The model in the above two pictures has been nicely positioned and is the most used pose for model photography. If you use a modern Digital Camera or Smartphone, the lenses on those are classed as being quite 'Wide Angle' and the advantage of this will be a wide Depth of Field, allowing a lot of the area in front and behind the model to be in focus (as well as the model itself!), if you use Digital SLR type Cameras, the lens and metering system will adjust accordingly for the maximum amount of light to pass through the lens, but restrict the amount of the Depth of Field, causing areas in front and behind the model to be out of focus, so the lens will need 'Stopping Down' meaning the aperture will need to be reduced, limiting the amount of light to pass through. This will bring back some focus in front of and behind the model but the image will be much darker, so now we need to introduce some extra lighting.

If you can not change lenses on your Camera and virtually all Digital still Cameras and Smartphones have fixed lenses, then the simplest way to keep the whole model in focus is to place it parallel to the Camera as in the second picture.