Focus where?

[metroman]

I'm photographing people more and more after moving away from general and landscape photography. I tend to do location shoots and use a one light set-up on a stand with a softbox and largely, I'm getting satisfactory results; One issue I come across frequently is where to focus! I have read, and applied, the information this forum has given me about focusing on the nearest eye but when things are "flowing" I'm finding it slows things down immensely and I often miss the exact place I should have focused on. My confusion is increased when I see a video from Gary photographing literally one frame after another, it's at times like that when things go wrong for me and I lose images because of missing focus, so what is the secret for pin sharp images in situations when things are flowing?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHvCzDBShws

 

[Garry Edwards]

TBH I never give focus a second thought on this kind of shoot, I use a Nikon camera with a fixed aperture f/2.8 zoom, which autofocusses very quickly and I just keep the focus point somewhere near the eyes, and it always works for me.
Having said that, with this type of shoot I generally shoot at f/16, which gives me plenty of DOF and covers up for any Garry errors

 

[metroman]

Hello Garry and I'm glad it was yourself that answered this question. I guessed it was a small aperture that allowed that type of shooting situation. I'm also Nikon and use my 24-70 and 70-200 and more often than not shoot at f4 to f4.5 as I try and get a good depth of field but, as I am finding out, this can work against me when the model is in free flow.

 

[Phil V]

Hello Garry and I'm glad it was yourself that answered this question. I guessed it was a small aperture that allowed that type of shooting situation. I'm also Nikon and use my 24-70 and 70-200 and more often than not shoot at f4 to f4.5 as I try and get a good depth of field but, as I am finding out, this can work against me when the model is in free flow.

It's also the difference between shooting in a studio and environmentally. In the studio with controlled lighting life is easy shooting at f11 or f16, but in the environment with a shallower DoF you need continuous focus and you'll get a lot of failure.

 

[metroman]

It's also the difference between shooting in a studio and environmentally. In the studio with controlled lighting life is easy shooting at f11 or f16, but in the environment with a shallower DoF you need continuous focus and you'll get a lot of failure.

I NEVER use continuous focus, perhaps this is something I should change? I use back button focus and re-compose;

 

[Phil V]

I NEVER use continuous focus, perhaps this is something I should change? I use back button focus and re-compose;

You can't focus recompose a moving person. It's a great thing for static subjects but is completely useless once they're moving.

 

[metroman]

You can't focus recompose a moving person. It's a great thing for static subjects but is completely useless once they're moving.

Another technique I'm going to have to master.

 

[Garry Edwards]

I NEVER use continuous focus, perhaps this is something I should change? I use back button focus and re-compose;

And yet here we are... technology means that life has never been easier for us, I've been shooting fashion for what seems like ever and until we moved to digital cameras with (relatively) small sensors and fast autofocus, we managed perfectly well with manual focus on 6x7cm cameras, where the DOF is considerably less.

 

[Phil V]

Another technique I'm going to have to master.

It's where BBF wins. Keep the camera on Continuous, then you can either focus recompose on a still subject or keep your thumb on for moving subjects. It's so simple its a no-brainer.

 

[HoppyUK]

I would move/zoom back a bit so there is bit of space around the subject, use centre-point AF and keep that pinned on the eye/face, either in continuous servo-tracking AF mode or back-button AF. Then crop for framing in post processing. With some cameras, the outer AF points are very good so you could use one of those rather than the centre, for better and tighter framing. If servo-tracking, some cameras allow you to adjust AF characteristics, eg to prevent the focus flying off instantly to the background when the AF point strays off the face (as it will!).

This is an area where some of the latest cameras have an advantage with face recognition etc. While that's not a new feature ion itself, the fact that it now actually works well in conjunction with servo-tracking AF is a major benefit.

If all else fails, use the old school method of a higher f/number for greater depth of field to cover any errors. Or pre-focus on a certain position and make sure that's where the peak of the action happens. Easy with some subjects, eg show jumping horse, but impossible with others

 

[sk66]

It's also the difference between shooting in a studio and environmentally. In the studio with controlled lighting life is easy shooting at f11 or f16, but in the environment with a shallower DoF you need continuous focus and you'll get a lot of failure.

IMO, this is pretty much the main difference... using an aperture with greater DOF.

 

[metroman]

Thank you Richard, I'm definitely going to try other options, I don't often move the focus points to be honest, preferring to leave it in the centre. All good advice.

 

[Phil V]

Thank you Richard, I'm definitely going to try other options, I don't often move the focus points to be honest, preferring to leave it in the centre. All good advice.

As above - it's nonsense to expect focus recompose to work with a moving subject.