Telephotos and accurate focusing.

Did you ever have that feeling you were being watched? It crept over me as I was enjoying a merry jaunt yesterday; something had its eyes on me. Sure enough, a white and roan cow was peering in my direction; its eyes centered between two boards. It was just inside a barn-like structure and so the background was perfectly black. I swung my camera around and used the half-way-down method on the shutter button to lock focus. Without even a blink the bovine continued its inspection of me; its presentation was perfect.
I use center point auto-focus on most of my shots. I also keep the focusing mechanism set to single and lock as opposed to continuous focusing. When I am framing a scene I often use the center-focus-single-point lock option to precisely select where the lens will focus. I place the central point of the viewfinder on the intended target and press the shutter button half-way down. Then I reframe to capture the subject relative to its background and foreground and press the shutter button the rest of the way down.

This is an especially important technique when using long lenses. Longer focal lengths and lower apertures both benefit from this technique; it is especially important when both are being used. If you look closely at the image you will notice that the boards are just slightly out of focus. Not much, but enough to help draw your eye to the subject. If I had used multizone autofocus the cow would not be sharp and the image would be ruined.

This technique takes some practice as it means getting used to the idea of focusing and reframing every time. If you use this focus technique but do not lock and reframe the chances are that many of your photos will come back with the subject out of focus. If you always ensure that the subject is in the dead center of the image you will lose the ability to use composition techniques such as the rule of thirds and framing. This isn't as much of an issue with wide angles particularly when combined with small apertures, but the method has value even in these situations.

Once you become practiced you will find that the whole affair turns second-nature. It will turn you into a better photographer, and who knows; more cows may look your way.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen