Part 4 Take control of focus
You can control more than your camera’s exposure system
So far, we’ve been talking exclusively about metering, but there are other areas where you can take back control from the camera. Modern autofocus systems are very sophisticated, but there will still be times when AF will struggle. It’s difficult to achieve focus on a subject when it’s one of several elements in a frame that don’t appear on the same plane, for example. Autofocus systems also tend to ‘run off’ (the focus ring spins from side to side) while trying to lock on to the subject. Reducing the amount of focus points being used will help pin-point focusing, but if you’re still having problems, you can disable the AF system and switch to Manual to get the subject sharp. As a backstop, use Live View or focus peaking to check you’ve achieved the correct focus. Manual focus is a handy over-ride to use if AF has difficulty tracking a moving subject, for example a horse vaulting a jump. So you don’t miss out on getting the shot, choose a suitable aperture and shutter speed combination for the effect you want, pre-focus on the jump, and lock the focus.