Lesson 1- Getting it in focus.
How many pictures have we taken that are stunning, absoulutely beautiful, perfect exposure, except, dang it, my focus got messed up! If only it were in focus, it would be PERFECT.Yeah, we're not doing that anymore. (Well, not as much anyway!)
Today we're talking focus. Using your cameras autofocus to your advantage to get the sharpest images possible.
One huge thing that made a differnce is changing my focus from the shutter release button to the * button on the back of the camera. It took a few days to get used to focusing with a different button, but now that i'm used to it, it's amazing the difference in sharpness when your focus is a separate movement from the shutter. I don't have to worry about focusing,then adjusting my exposure, refocusing, and then taking the shot.
With the exposure lock on the * button, I can focus, set exposure and click. No accidental refocusing on the tree behind my kid.
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The instructions on changing the focus and more info about the focus lock can be found on page 92 of your manual. More info is on page 153. I don't have my manual to paste what it says here...sorry!
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When you're taking pictures in Auto, the camera will choose where it thinks you want to focus, according to lighting,etc. You will see the light on the AF point that is being used. When you flip to the creative modes, you can control the Autofocus points. The button to control the autofocus points is on the back of your camera on the VERY top right. It will have a rectangle with three dots across and one on top and one on bottom, kind of in a cross shape. If you hold the button down and use the scroll while looking in the viewfinder, you will see the AF points lighting up/changing. When they are all lit, it will use allpoints at the same time...for groups, etc.
So basically-
*Decide which item you want to focus on.
*hold the shutter half down OR hold the * button if using focus lock *recompose the picture.
*shoot!
This week play with your autofocus and control it. Set it on the autofocus point you want (i usually use center) and make it focus on what YOU want it to.
Try taking a picture of flowers or something else with varying distances from your lens and make the front set in focus..then the middle, then the back.
Getting it in focus is half the battle!
Remember, set it up, focus, recompose!
Here are some samples. I'll try to get out so I can find better examples, I can't drive yet but when I can i'll do better samples!
Heres the front/middle/back excercise. Top- focus on the pumpkin, Midddle- focus on tractor, botton- focus on wagon.
It's hard to see...I promise i'll do better when I can drive out of my neighborhood of dead 'stuff'
And in this one, focus and recompose. I focused on the pumpkin and then set up my shot. Using the focus lock, as long as the pumpkin doesnt move it will stay in focus even when I move the frame!
Take some pics, show us what you've got! Have fun!
Happy Shooting!
posted by Steph @ 1:30 PM
3 Comments:
You know I was practicing this last week with my new Nativity set. I really learned a lot about focus with my dreb that day. Thanks for doing this.
Robin
Are you sure that the * button holds focus? I understand that the * button locks exposure, but not focus. At least when I try it out it does..
Hi Steph,
Just a little feedback on the focus strategy. I switched my * key to do the focusing in the creative modes, and it was going pretty well until I tried to use this at my son's birthday party. He and a bunch of friends went snow tubing, and with the use of a tele zoom, they just went down too fast for this method to work. I switched to sports mode, and with the bright sunlight, that worked real well for most shots. Overall though, I still like the manual method with the asterisk key better for most shots.
Boris
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