Extreme DOF @fter Pan

Extreme DOF @fter pan, originally uploaded by imageo.

For some time I have realised that using anti-shake and auto focus while panning after birds in flight was counter productive. Most often I missed the great shot as the lens drives back and forth trying to focus or worse it would find something well in the background, behind the action and I have a blurred bird.  So I’ve been brave and stopped down a bit (eg f8 of higher, to get a bit of latitude in depth of field, DOF) and manual focussed in the middle distance where I expected the bird to fly. Then I set the camera into multi-shoot and follow the birds flight in a conventional smooth pan with my finger held down. Depending on the light I usually get a better sequence with just a little motion blur in the background (see below). However the photo above is the last shot in the sequence just as the sea gull is flying out of my depth field range and the distant background, well up the beach, is out of focus. Giving it a pleasingly ambiguous “into the unknown feel”

PhotoFriday :: Flaming Sharp Focus

This set of amazing ripple patterns in the shallows behind a sand bar reminds me of flames, frozen in time in their best and most intricate detail.

Normally photographing a very monochrome and evenly lit subjects, like a pattern in beach sand is very difficult to focus, even manually, and would normally send my camera’s autofocus tracking back and forth in a rather futile effort to find a sharp image. Being winter the sun was low enough to throw a shadow and it was just a case moving around  to get the direction that had the shadows maximised and darkest. Thus giving some good contrast in the area on which I was focusing.

For PhotoFriday‘s Topic Sharp Focus

Autofocus Problems

These beautifully camouflaged crabs where all over the beach this morning, and I though they would be easy to photograph with my telephoto lens (with macro feature). Well not exactly easy, because the translucent crab on sand gives little contrast for the autofocus to fix on and the camera was whirring away shifting the lens back and forth aimlessly. It was not until the crab crossed into my footprint that the camera had enough shadow contrast to focus properly.