#Super refocus a picture manual

You use your controls to select the point of focus in your frame, then the camera will focus on this selected point. There are a few different types of area modes, and are more important in still life photography than the autofocus mode, in my experience. The autofocus area is talking about the area in the frame in which the camera will focus on. You should be able to hear the camera trying to focus, this will alert you to be cautious and check your shots for focus issues. This mode of autofocus, however, can be tricky for the focus and recompose method when you’re using the half-pressed shutter to focus.Īs the camera will continuously focus, you may be accidentally allowing the camera to keep focusing, potentially on the incorrect subject!įor still subjects, continuous focus may keep trying to look for moving subjects and keep focusing causing out of focus images. For example, like pouring shots, action shots, i.e mixing a cake batter, portraits where the chef is interacting with a dish, restaurant scenes where people are moving. Situations, where I do this, would be, of course, anything that I’m shooting that is continuously moving. The camera will continue to focus as you keep the shutter button half pressed or the back button focus pressed.īecause I shoot still life most of the time, I don’t tend to have this option selected by default. I mostly use the ‘focus and recompose’ technique for still life scenes, opting to focus on my subject of choice, then reframing/composing the shot. For my food photography where I have a still life scene, travel or city pictures I use this. This is the autofocus mode that I use the most. The camera will focus once when you half-press the shutter or press back button focus. One focuses once, the other continuously. The main types of autofocus modes that you can use are single or continuous, usually. About Autofocus Modes and Area Modes.ĭepending on which brand of camera you use, and the model, this may vary slightly, but here are the types of autofocus, generally.Īs an example, let’s use my Nikon d800e to explore the types of autofocus. Of course, food photography is different, but the lack of fast moving subjects doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider using autofocus.

#Super refocus a picture manual

Can you imagine having several sprinters running away from you, and you had to use manual focus? I can say with confidence that he’d have the hardest time shooting and getting results if he had this idea that autofocus is bad. I mentioned that my husband shoots on autofocus, well he’s a full-time fitness photographer and he obviously shoots fast moving subjects, sometimes even several together.

There are bad choices, but in essence, autofocus is not bad. It comes down to how you use it and in what context that can make your decision.

Are there ways of using autofocus that is bad?įor sure. Is autofocus bad for still life photography or food photography? Again, no. Knowing the best way to use and harness each type of focus is how you’ll get the most out of your shooting. These concepts are more complex than that, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. It’s never just as simple as saying, ‘manual focus good, autofocus bad’. Manual focus, on the other hand, was something you wanted to strive for always.īut like anything in photography, nothing is isolated. Like it was almost going back to shooting in auto-mode. My husband also uses autofocus, (more on this later), so I was quite surprised at a few recent gathering of photographers how autofocus was being poo-pooed. So, how do you know that the techniques that you’re using are the best ones? You do what you do and no one is around to question you. The trouble with freelancing sometimes is that you’re the only photographer in the room.