Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-12-14)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 14 December 2019 17

UseautoISO
Whenyouhaveyourapertureandshutter
speedsetperfectly,themostfrustratingthing
canhappen– thelightchanges.Insteadof
ruiningyoursettings(andthereforehowsharp
yoursubjectis)turnonautoISOandletthe
cameraadjustexposureforyou.In this case,
‘Auto’ is a good option to go for.

Focusfromtheback

Back-buttonfocusis anotherusefulsetting

(certainfunctionbuttonsandAE/AF-Lbuttons

canbeprogrammedtodothisif necessary).

Ensurereleasepriorityis turnedon,ratherthan

focuspriority,asthiswillletyoutakea photo

whenyouwant,ratherthanwhenthecamera

decides a subject is in focus or not.

Continuouslyfocus

Insteadof re-pressingtheautofocusbuttonas

a subjectmoves,engagecontinuousautofocus

mode.It willautomaticallyadjustfocusforas

longastheAFbuttonis pressedovertheAF

point.Somemodessuchasfacerecognition

areabletotracksubjectsautomatically as they

move through the frame.

STAY SHARP Technique

ACLOSE-UPonthispianist’s

fingersalmostneverwas.This

wastakenin a darkcornerof

a dimlylit recordingstudioand

assuchtheapertureneededto

bewideopenat f/1.4,witha

highISOof 12,800,tokeepthe

shutterfastenoughtonotblur

themotionof thehands.The

lackof lightmadetheautofocus

misstheintendedsubject

entirelyfirsttimeround,soI

switchedtofocusmanuallyon

thehandclosesttothecamera.

Fortunately,theshallowdepthof

fieldworksonthisshottobring

the eye to the pianist’s fi ngers.

AFTER

BEFORE

offieldsknowntoanyphotographic
discipline.A differenceofmillimetrescan
seesubjectsthrownwildlyoutoffocus.So
it followsthatfocusbracketingis useful
notonlyforlandscapes,butalsomacro
subjects.Again,youcouldusethe
in-camerafocus-bracketingfeatureto
createa compositestackofsharpshots.
If yourcameradoesn’thavethisfeature,
thena macrorailcouldbeusedinorderto
physicallymovethecameraincrementally
closertothesubject.
However,thesetwomethodswillonly
workoninanimatesubjects.Shootinglive
subjectswithfocusbracketingcanonlybe
carriedouthandheld.It’smoredifficult,
butthereis a trick.Switchtomanualfocus
andadjustthefocusringtoitsminimum
focusingdistance.Next,engagecontinuous
burstmodeandrockbackandforthfrom
yoursubjectasyoutakemultipleshots.
Themoreyoupractise,theeasierit
becomes,andit makesallthedifferenceto
bugshots.Twoorthreeshotsinserieslike
thisshouldbeachievablewithonlyan
hourofpractice,butmypersonalrecordis
aboutseven shots in sequence handheld.

Action
Fast-pacedaction,whetherwildlife
orsports,placesgreatrelianceupon
autofocustrackingandfastshutterspeeds.
Thefirstportofcallwhenadjustingthe
autofocusparametersis toswitchto
single-pointautofocusmode.Thismay
soundcounterintuitive,becauseit gives
youthesmallestareafromwhichtodefine
focus,andwhenyoursubjectis movingat
speedsurelyyou’dwantthatAFpointto
beaslargeaspossible?Butinpractice,the
biggerAFpointzone(suchasgroupmode)
makesthecamerasecond-guesswhereyou
reallywantyourfocus– it givesit too
muchinformation,andoftenendsin
erroneous focus. Single-point AF is

Be shallow Diff erential focus