How commonly is focus trapping used in macro photography?

BBbuilder467 wrote:

Photogrrr wrote:

Assuming one is photographing moving subjects of course, how commonly do folks employ focus trapping in macro photography?

I've just recently tried exploring a bit of macro (bugs, bees, and other moving things), and I'm curious whether focus trapping is useful or practical in this context.

I'm not sure what you mean. With trap focus, as in sports, you can pre-focus and wait for the subject to come into the frame. With macro, you're already in manual focus

Not necessarily. I use autofocus almost all of the time.

I occasionally (by accident) get something like focus trap when photographing something that is on a leaf that is being blown around. I press the shutter button but the subject has moved before the focus has locked on but the focusing mechanism remains engaged and a little later (perhaps as long as a second, perhaps even longer) focus locks and an image is captured, with the subject in focus. It's rare though, and so not something I could use as a routine technique, and the centre of focus probably isn't exactly where I wanted it anyway (I have never checked).

and might have a fraction of a millimeter that's in/out of focus. I can barely "trap" a flower in a slight breeze. The slight delay from a TTL flash can be a problem if I or the subject moves.

That might work for hummingbirds or butterflies with a long telephoto lens, but that's not macro.