Smile is Out of Focus

[Joe Jones]

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

 

[David (r00t)]

When I was faced with a situation like this, I zoomed in on the head, focused(half-pressed and held it) then zoomed out and took the shot.

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

--David http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292111925 'What we have here is a failure to communicate' - Cool Hand Luke

 

[David Pichevin]

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

Wow, that's scary

Well, I think the solution to this kind of issue is the manual focus, even though I find it difficult. Or you, if possible, you could have tried to find a bigger area of the beast that the AF could have focused on, wihtout being bothered by the surrounding grass, and then reframed to take the picture.

David.--My photo galleries: http://www.pbase.com/davidp

 

[kudbegud]

try a higher f-stop maybe?

--you pay for what you get, but you don't always get what you paid for. F707,TCON-14B,ETX-90

 

[Shay Stephens]

This is a tough shot for sure. Using F8 may have given more DOF, but I think what you may be able to do is to let the camera autofocus, switch to manual focus to lock in that setting then gently turn the focus ring counterclockwise to get 1 or 2 changes in distance readout to focus beyond the grass.--Shay - My Sony F707 Gallery: http://shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp

 

[J.R.]

As mentioned, I would have zoomed in/centered as close as possible on the gator, filling the frame to ensure focus was on gator, half clicked shutter to lock in settings, and then zoomed out, re-composed and finished the shot.

This also works with spot metering as well. If for example you really wanted to get the right exposure for the dark gator "skin" color and shadows , and didn't care if the grass colors were blown out a bit, the technique of zooming in/centering, half click, and then recomposing works well.--J.R. http://www.pbase.com/jripley

 

[Nee (Renee Davis)]

Joe...was this gator freely roaming or in a zoo type situation? (Looks pretty free-roaming to me!) Yikes...I think it's great you got anything at all! I probably would've started backpedaling the minute I spotted him, not hanging around at a mere 15 feet away trying to figure out what exposure to use on my camera (but then again...who knows! This camera brings out some strange behaviors once it gets you hooked!). Sorry you missed the focus...glad you're still alive! Nee

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

--my online gallery- http://www.pbase.com/rdavis

 

[Joe Jones]

Joe...was this gator freely roaming or in a zoo type situation?

This is a free-roaming Everglades gator, maybe 6 feet long, just sunning himself. Here is another shot of the same guy, this time facing my way. (I'd note that this image is a good example of the seldom seen 707 BGS - Blue Gator Syndrome.)

 

[TurboTed]

I never tried this but it might work in this situation, especially if you have the time to setup the shot.

I would frame the shot in full auto, half press and switch the focus to manual. Notice now that when you half-press the shutter in manual focus mode, the focal distance is displayed on the LCD. Take the shot at that focus setting and review the image zoomed in 5x. Hopefully, you can tell at that magnification where the focus hit. If the focus did in fact lock on the grass in the foreground, I would add the focus distance noted above to the estimated distance between the grass and gator. Now turn the manual focus until this new distance is displayed and hopefully you'll have a prettier smile.

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

 

[Homer40784]

Well, so far I'ld guess that about half the folks failed to notice that you said that you had full zoom thereby eliminating the suggestions that you full zoom on the gator and then zoom back out a bit.
What I would try/have done.
The contrast detection used on these digicams works on vertical edges only.

Rotating the camera 90 degrees sometimes helps. In this case the grass would have been horizontal and the gator would have been vertical.

Half press, wait for solid lite, rotate back to normal and complete shutter release.

We see these gators often around here (Ft Myers). They like golf course too. If you lose a ball here you tend to leave it lost.

That guy is not very big, but he could still do some damage and they are incredibly quick when they want to be.
Be careful out there!

Homer

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

 

[Joe Jones]

Thank you Homer, and thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. Yes, I was at full zoom, so the zoom-in technique may not have helped, but I will try your verticle focus technique and the other suggestions next time. Thanks again!

Joe

We see these gators often around here (Ft Myers). They like golf
course too. If you lose a ball here you tend to leave it lost.

That guy is not very big, but he could still do some damage and
they are incredibly quick when they want to be.
Be careful out there!

Homer

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

 

[JimB]

Dang, your gators have much whiter teeth than ours in Central Fl. The obviously have better dentists down south!

Joe

We see these gators often around here (Ft Myers). They like golf
course too. If you lose a ball here you tend to leave it lost.

That guy is not very big, but he could still do some damage and
they are incredibly quick when they want to be.
Be careful out there!

Homer

This shot was taken from about 15 feet with full zoom. As you can
see, the foreground grass is in focus, the gator is not. What
should I have done to get proper focus? I could not ask him to
move out of the grass, the manual focus was not showing any
difference in the image as I turned the focus ring, and the
distance was too close to effectively use the meters read out as a
guide. I run into this quite frequently. Any tips? Thanks. Joe

 

[Cliff Kline]

JimB wrote:

Dang, your gators have much whiter teeth than ours in Central Fl. The obviously have better dentists down south!

Reply: You know how you give dogs biscuits to help reduce plaque on the dog's teeth? Perhaps this gator eats the dogs that eat the dog bones!

 

[Peter Epstein]

Along with zooming in all the way, another aid to manual focus is going to the widest aperture (f/2.4 in this case), getting the focus as sharp as you can, and then stopping down the aperture as far as you can (without getting the shutter speed too low), and take the shot. The wide aperture minimizes depth of field to help see the focus plane better. The small aperture maximizes depth of field to increase your chances of getting the subject gator in focus. Even with these tricks, manual focus only works really well for me when the camera is on a tripod and the subject isn't going anywhere!--Peter Epstein

 

[SET2]

Only one thing worries me Joe...if you follow all the advice that's been given here you're liable to become so wrapped up in it you may not notice how much closer Ole Jaws is getting.
Only traces left were tripod and digicam!!!

Along with zooming in all the way, another aid to manual focus is
going to the widest aperture (f/2.4 in this case), getting the
focus as sharp as you can, and then stopping down the aperture as
far as you can (without getting the shutter speed too low), and
take the shot. The wide aperture minimizes depth of field to help
see the focus plane better. The small aperture maximizes depth of
field to increase your chances of getting the subject gator in
focus. Even with these tricks, manual focus only works really well
for me when the camera is on a tripod and the subject isn't going
anywhere!
--
Peter Epstein

--Steve