When to Use Manual Focus(When to turn your autofocus off)Discovering when to use manual focus and when to use autofocus is a photography technique that will serve you well in getting sharp photos every time. In most situations your autofocus camera will do a good job for you, but there are several situations when you will get better digital pictures when you focus manually. The first situation when this occurs becomes obvious when it happens, but if you are prepared ahead of time, you'll be ready. You won't miss your photo because the focus was wrong. It occurs when there is a fence or glass you have to shoot through at your subject. Have you ever been to the zoo, or a museum or perhaps your car or a train and you tried to photograph something through the glass? Your camera focus will automatically be on the closest object to the lens. The fence or glass will be sharp and your subject will be out of focus. Manually focusing on your subject will overcome this situation. The second situation on when to use manual focus can occur when you are in a low light situation. Autofocus lenses work in most situations, but often fail when it's dark or your subject has very little contrast for the camera lens to analyze. I did this family portrait pose at sunset. It was extremely bright back lighting. My camera focusing mechanism was trying but couldn't find sharpness when I composed my photo. I switched to manual focus and was able to photograph this wonderful family. Night photography situations, such as Pictures of Fireworks or strong back lighting situations will cause your lens to continuously search for sharpness and will delay the shutter or won't allow the picture to be taken at all. Here is a little photography assignment you can try on your own and learn how your camera behaves. Look for these situations right now in your environment. Try taking a picture through a window. Place your subject with a large bright window behind them. Try this with them wearing a dark solid shirt. The try it with a bright shirt or a shirt with stripes or a pattern. Your results will depend on how much Fill Light is present. If your camera does not have manual focus your only option is to focus on something else first, that is the same distance from your camera. Squeeze the shutter button half way to lock the focus distance, then aim your camera at your desired subject and gently squeeze the shutter button the rest of the way down. Back from When to Use Manual Focus to Digital Camera Instructions |
