Photographing with Autofocus mode

Following on from the posts of Ken Terry's beautiful wildlife shots of squirrels and red kites, I had a comment from Dorcas, who asked if there is a technique to using Servo Autofocus, or whether it is just a case of practice to get the best shots.

As I am not a Canon man, I thought the best person to answer the question would be the man who actually took the pictures, so I asked Ken for his response. Ken says...

"Canon's terminology is actually AI Servo. Different cameras have different terminology and different characteristics, so it is important to know the characteristics of your camera. Canon's 1D MKIII can be programmed using custom settings for individual use. For example the settings for a wildlife photographer would be different from a sports photographer. I only had the camera just over a week when I took the shots of the kite so I'm still learning the camera's capabilities.

The basic technique for using AI Servo is to pan the subject keeping the Autofocus point in the viewfinder on the subject. Again this autofocus point varies from camera to camera and in the case of the 1D MKIII this can be expanded and assist points can also help. This is part of programming the camera to your individual needs.

If you practice to start with on subjects that move in one direction at a steady speed such as a car it helps to get a feel of what is needed. The problem (and the fun) of photographing moving wildlife is that you never know what direction they will turn next. This is especially true of birds that can travel quickly up and down as well from side to side.

So to sum it up, you need to know your camera, you need to practice panning on steadily moving subjects to get a feel for it and finally practice on the wildlife.

I missed loads of shots while photographing the kites as I would just gain focus and then they would dive."

So there you go - straight from the man himself. Hope that helps.
Thanks Ken.

street portraiture

Cathy was asking in one of her comments whether I had shown any of the pictures I took while I was working with her on the harbour side here in Kirkcudbright. Cathy is one of my students and was here with me on a one-to-one photography course a few months back. I delighted to say she will be joining us in Menorca for the photography holiday in May this year

Well, as I have mentioned before, when I’m working with a student I don’t normally get much chance to take my own photographs, I’m far to busy concentrating on what the student is doing. When we spotted the chap in this photograph on the harbour, he was chatting to someone and just about to get back into his car – not the best place for good photographs. I explained to Cathy that the best thing to do was glance around, find the best spot to photograph him, then ask him to go there. The red bollard with the side of the boat and the nets as a background was an obvious make-shift studio.

I know Cathy was having problems with her auto focus at the time, but she did manage to get some successful photographs. I managed a couple of simple portraits on my little Canon Ixus.

The moral of this little yarn is that by all means, get your candid shots in first when it is feasible – and then don’t be afraid to make contact with your subject, it can lead to some good photographs – remember, once you have broken the ice you have a tame subject in front of you. Don’t was the opportunity – take lots of photographs.

Yes, I know the light was flat and undirectional, but the portraits are lifted by the extraordinarily bright colours of the subjects shirt, and the blue and green background. This background also helps tell the story of an old salt on the harbour – and I simply love the carpet slippers!

These are simple portraits – no great works of art, but they are fun to take, and this sort of photography is good practice for anyone wanting to learn and build their confidence when photographing people in the street. Meeting this chap has opened the opportunity to meet him again and take more photographs of his - perhaps with better light.

Photographing fog

Just because the weather is poor, it’s no reason to put your camera away and hunker down in front of the fire. Fog, for instance, is one of those weather conditions that can transform everything you see into mystical shapes and monochromatic colour.

When fog descends on this part of SW Scotland, I often head down the estuary to photograph the boats heading up river into the harbour. These fishing boats come looming up out of the mist, so it is important that the camera is set and ready to take pictures.

Fog is one of those conditions that can cause your autofocus to ‘hunt’. So be prepared to use the Manual Focus function – remember that? It’s the one where you actually have to use your own fingers to turn the focusing ring. If you are using an automatic compact camera, you will not have this option, but my little Canon Ixus always seems to cope better that the SLRs in these conditions.

The other main problem can be one of exposure. All that white mist reflects a lot of light. Just like photographing in snow, this can fool your exposure reading into believing there is lots of light – that causes under-exposure. So over-expose by one stop or value if you are using manual exposure mode. If you are using an auto exposure mode then set the exposure compensation to +1 value. Experiment for best results. Not all subjects need this compensation, as I will show you in my next post.