58 DIGITAL CAMERA^ MARCH 2020 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
CAMERA COLLEGEa time-lapse video. In some circumstances,
you may have no choice but to override the
autofocus system and focus manually. For
example, in very low light your camera may
struggle to see the subject and just focus
the lens repeatedly back and forth without
ever locking on. When an image includes a
detailed foreground or background, or the
subject is small in the frame, the autofocus
system may end up focusing on the wrong
part of the scene. If you’re taking close-ups
or shooting with a large aperture setting,
the depth of field will be so narrow that
even a small autofocus error will be
obvious in the final image.
DSLRs and mirrorless cameras don’t
always have a manual focus option available
on the camera body or in its menu. Instead,
you have to slide the switch on the lens
from AF or A to MF or M. High-end lensestypically offer full-time manual focusing as
a feature, too. This means you can turn the
focus ring to manually change the focus
without having to switch the lens to Manual
first. If you lift your finger from the shutter
button and press it again, the camera
will readjust the focus after you’ve
manually overridden it.
As with Manual exposure mode, the
camera can help you out when you’re
manual focusing. If you position one of the
AF points over the subject and keep your
finger half-pressed on the shutter button,
the camera will indicate when the detail
covered by the AF point is sharp, either by
a light in the viewfinder or a beep. If you’re
using Live View or an electronic viewfinder,
you can access additional features, such as
a magnified image or a coloured overlay
that highlights the sharpest areas.XǔɵȒɖǼǣǔɎɵȒɖȸˡȇǕƺȸ
from the shutter button
and press it again, the
camera will readjust
the focus after you’ve
manually overriden itCustomise the look of your images
Give your JPEGs and videos the feel you want rather than letting the camera decide
Your camera can automatically
choose a combination of tone,
colours, sharpness and other aspects
of image processing to give you an overall
look that it calculates will complement
the subject or scene. Obviously the
camera doesn’t really know what you’re
shooting, and besides, you may prefera more subtle or bolder treatment. If
you’re shooting raw files, you can choose
your image processing settings later
when you convert your file. But with
JPEGs and video files, the processing
effects are ‘baked in’ at the point of
capture. So it pays to experiment
with the settings before you shoot.Your camera may offer a selection of
presets, such as Picture Styles or Picture
Controls, which contain different blends
of image processing parameters that
can be selected with one click. You
can customise the result, however,
by adjusting parameters such as
contrast and saturation yourself...Low contrastLow sharpnessHigh sharpnessLow saturation High saturation High contrast