Focusing with your camera

How does focusing work with your camera? There are several settings you can use on your camera. Let's go through them:

AF method

Something you've used before, but how does it actually work? When taking a photo, we press the shutter release button of the camera halfway. We see through the viewfinder or on the screen, one or more dots light up and press the button further to take the photo.

Focusing is done in a fraction of a second. The speed of focusing also depends a bit on the camera and lens combination.

Focus point

Not the entire image is linked to the AF sensor, but only a few focus points. That varies from 11 to more than 500. You see these focus points as dots or zones in the viewfinder of the camera. The middle point is the most sensitive. This measures both the horizontal and vertical contrast with an extra high sensitivity, in less light or low contrast. You can purposefully select one focus point, but you can also use an entire zone.

Many photographers use the center focus point and reframe the image, then take the picture. You can also choose to choose a different focus point, but then you have to focus properly for each photo. There is also a mode where all focus points are active and the camera chooses a point itself. This is by far the fastest method, but can result in a photo where the wrong element in your photo is in focus.

One shot / Ai Focus / Ai Servo

With One Shot, the focus point is locked when the focus point is found. So this mode is ideal for shooting still subjects.

Ai Focus recognizes it when movement comes from a still image. It then tracks the moving subject to focus. If something accidentally passes by, it can be detrimental, because you don't want to focus on the moving subject at all.

Ai Servo is the ideal mode if you have continuously moving subjects that you want to focus on. For example, think of a sports competition or car races. The focus point then continues to move with your subject.

Auto focus in liveview
With newer cameras with a touchscreen, it is possible to tap your focus point on your LCD screen. In this way you are no longer tied to the number of focus points that you see through your viewfinder, but you simply tap the subject you want sharp in your photo.

Autofocus vs manual focus:

Your camera has trouble focusing automatically in the dark. The camera will not find a bright spot to focus on. This is not a disaster, because fortunately we can also focus manually. Also with macro photography you will often want to focus manually. So good to pay attention to!

If you focus manually, keep a few points in mind:

• Turn off the image stabilization on your lens
• First, determine a good composition and place your tripod in the desired location.
• Set your desired aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
• Always take a test photo first and judge if it is good.
• Macro photography is all about details. So make sure you have good focus to make sure that the right element of your photo is in focus.
• Use the infinity sign (see photo on the right) for the largest possible sharpness area. You can recognize the infinity sign by an 8-like symbol. Adjust to this and turn back a very small turn. How much exactly? That differs per lens. So just try it out.
• Take your photo and check whether you have the desired sharpness.
• After each photo taken, you have to manually focus again. Every change in composition or setting creates a new situation. So refocus.

To manually focus via your LCD screen:

• All of the above points also apply to manual focusing via your LCD screen.
• On your LCD screen you can see more clearly what your photo will look like and whether it is sharp.
• You are looking for a bright light source on your LCD screen. This can be anything, a lamppost, an illuminated shop front, a shop window, you name it.
• Zoom in on the light source with your magnifying glass and focus manually. You can clearly see when it is at its sharpest on your LCD screen.                                      

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Why is the tripod so important?

Tripod and ball head

Let's call it right, right away. This is one of the most important elements in photography. Your tripod is like your best friend! If you invest well in it, it won't let you down! So it's important to dwell on this for a moment.

Why is the tripod so important?

• It gives stability.
• You can take long exposure shots that you need for macro photography around twilight.
• You reduse noise due to too high ISO values.
• Without a tripod, no sparkling sharp photos.
• The best results with focus stacking

What do you consider when buying? My tip, in any case, don't cut corners. Assume that you will once again purchase a new camera or lens and that your tripod must be able to carry it. Do you travel a lot? Then you would like a lightweight. Do you shoot a lot of macro? Then you want a tripod that comes close to the ground. For each type of photography, you can ask yourself what requirements your tripod must meet.

What questions you should definitely ask yourself:

• What kind of photography do I use it for?
• What is the total weight of my camera and lens? The heaviest version of course!
• Do I want to expand in my lenses and what does my camera with lens weigh?
• What requirements do I place on the tripod head?
• When I go out, how much should the tripod weigh so I can take it comfortably with me?
• What height should the tripod be?

  Tripod

There are various types of tripods on the market. You have very compact ones, such as a gorillapod and even a tripod on one leg, called a monopod. Feel free to research this on the internet. In general, however, we focus on the tripod, as this is the best variant.

The tripod stands firmly on three legs, as the name suggests. More expensive models are usually made of durable and sturdy materials. These tripods are very sturdy. Constant adjustment is also no problem for these tripods. They can be loaded more heavily. Pay attention to the weight of the tripod if you want to walk longer distances. You don't want to carry around too many pounds. Also think how big you are. It is pleasant to shoot when you have the camera at eye level on a tripod.

Remember: the heavier the weight, the more stable the tripod will be. Pay attention to the weight of the tripod if you want to walk longer distances. You don't want to carry around too many pounds.

Tripod head

A tripod head is available separately, which gives you flexibility. We discuss two types of tripod heads.

The most famous is the three-way head. You can move the three-way head in three ways: forward or backward, clockwise or counterclockwise, horizontally or vertically. This allows you to aim your camera extremely accurately. This can be done with levers, but also, for example, with rotary knobs where you can turn your tripod head per millimeter. three-way head

The second commonly used head is a ball head. It consists of a ball construction so that you can easily and quickly put your camera in the desired position with one lever. It is important with both models that the ball head must be able to bear the total weight of your camera and lens. Play it safe and rather add two kilos on top.

Other tips:

Some tips I don't want to withhold from you.

• Cheap is expensive. It is a one-time purchase that you will enjoy for years to come.
• Take good care of your tripod. This extends the lifespan.
• Turn off the image stabilization on your lens. This ensures better sharpness.
• In the camera menu, turn off noise reduction for slow shutter speeds. If necessary, you can apply this afterwards with editing.
• Look closely at the environment. Placing your tripod a meter further can give a completely different perspective.
• Make sure your tripod is stable and cannot tip over.
• Cover the viewfinder to avoid unwanted rays of light.

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 Photographing fireworks

Okay, before we get to the fireworks, let's take a look at the BULB mode. You'll find the BULB mode if you continue to dial in the shutter speed setting when you get to the 30 second mark. You may even have a separate BULB setting on your camera.

The BULB mode allows you to determine your own shutter speed, even to infinity. Extremely useful if at 30 seconds you still have too little light, then BULB is your solution. However, it has another special feature and we need it for fireworks photography. Incidentally, photographing lightning works the same as fireworks. So two birds with one stone!

How does it work?

In BULB mode, you decide when to start recording and when to end recording. You press the button, the recording starts, you press the button again, the recording stops. So you can start recording and stop recording right after the fireworks (or lightning). A remote control is handy and recommended to avoid motion blur from pressing the shutter button. You'll get some additional tips along the way.

Other tips for photographing fireworks

• Turn off the image stabilization on your lens (including autofocus).
• First, determine a good composition and place your tripod in the desired location.
• Set your desired aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I recommend an aperture between F8 and F14, for a large area of focus. Keep your ISO as low as possible, fireworks themselves give off a lot of light. A shutter speed between 1 and 5 seconds should be fine.
• Always take a test photo first and judge if it is good.
• Use the infinity sign to focus manually.
• If you change your composition or settings, refocus.
• Use the BULB mode to have complete control over shutter speed.
• If you have a remote, use these.
• Include the environment in your composition. Fireworks are beautiful. In perspective with, for example, a part of a city, it comes into its own even better.
• En last but not least, stay safe!

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Photographing the stars

In the Netherlands we are not so topographically blessed to photograph the starry sky, but of course it is possible! In any case, it is a wonderful sensation!

Timing is key. We need a new moon (the light from the moon gives too much light pollution so we can't see the stars well) and clear skies. So no clouds. If those conditions are right...on your way!

Photographing stars is a different sport. You have to deal with the rotation of the earth, so you can not use too slow shutter speeds. A slow shutter speed will cause a star to change into a line due to the rotation of the earth. The following formula works:

500 / (focal length x crop factor) = maximum exposure time in seconds.

Example: fullframe body / 24mm lens = 500/24 = 20 seconds shutter speed. Not a fullframe? Multiply your crop factor (1.5x) by 20 seconds.

To get the stars visible you want to use as open an aperture as possible, for example f 2.8 or f 1.4. Also, increase your ISO value. Test this on the spot how much ISO you need. Normal values are between 1200 and 3200.

See if you can create a nice foreground. If necessary, light it a little with a flashlight to make it visible. Possibly take two pictures that you later join together. This can be in panorama to get both your foreground and sky in the picture. But it can also be done by blending to get the right exposure between foreground and stars.

 Star trails / star circles

The rotation of the earth combined with slow shutter speeds creates a creative effect. The stars then turn into stripes! Also called star trails. The longer the shutter speed, the longer those stripes will become. If you are going to photograph star trails, you may want to keep your ISO low to avoid noise as much as possible.

You can use your BULB function to take one long shot of 30 minutes or longer to generate beautiful streaks.

You can also take several shots and merge them later in post-processing. The number of shots should certainly be around 100, which you later merge. Shutter speeds of 30 seconds to a minute per exposure are recommended.

Other tips: 

• Always photograph on a tripod
• Focus manually
• Turn off the image stabilization on your lens
• Use a remote control or the camera's self-tim
• Set your interval timer if your camera has it. Do include the processing time of the recording. Every camera has a processing time after taking a slow shutter speed shot. Set your interval so that your camera has time to process the shot.

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What kind of photographer are you?

It is good to first know what kind of photographer you are. There are several options that are broken down into 4 categories. 

The biological photographer, has a great interest in photographing certain animal or plant species and knows the name of many species.

The technician opens the box of tricks and knows how to get the most out of his camera and also derives satisfaction from this.

The Artist, approaches it from the artistic side and attempts to give it a twist that can be compared to art.

The philosopher, thinks carefully about how best to photograph the subject and excels by photographing it in a different way. 

After you have determined what kind of photographer you are. You can start looking at how to take the best photo.

What is important in taking a good photo?

Besides operating the camera, there is another thing that is incredibly important when taking a good picture.

Yes, the composition.

Composition is the correct placement of the subject in your photo, with the goal of forming a beautiful whole. 

From where you take the photo, the point of view: perspective is very important for the photo. Take a few steps to the left or right and see what that means for your photo. 

There are two well-known perspectives in the photography world:

Bird's eye perspective 

Like being a bird looking down on its subject from the sky. Despite that this does not necessarily mean that it must always be photographed from high in the sky. The subject can also just be on the ground, as long as it is photographed from above. This often makes the subject smaller and the horizon higher in the picture.

Frog perspective 

Easily put, it means "from a frog's point of view." A frog sits low on the ground and thus looks at the world from below. This point of view often makes the subject appear larger and the horizon often light lower in the picture.

And then of course you have:

Photographing at eye level. This is self-explanatory, photographing from your own point of view. Different compositions and frames can influence the photo, positively and negatively. It is important that you experiment with this and test out different viewpoints when taking a good photo.

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The advantages of shooting with filters!

Shooting with filters may not be something you immediately think of, but it gives a very nice effect!

No, no filters for the photos, as with Instagram, for example, but actual filters for your lens. There are different types, shapes and sizes and they all have matching quality.  An important rule for the purchase of filters: do not skimp on this. Cheaper filters are often not colorfast, you get strange colors in your photo that do not belong there. The quality is also significantly less, which means that they wear out or break faster. So, invest in the right equipment if you want to get started with filters. 

Moving on to filters, we now discuss the most commonly used filters. 

* UV filters

The UV filter is one of the most commonly used filters. It has a visible effect in conditions where a lot of UV light is present. This includes areas high above sea level. UV filters are now also used to protect the lens from scratches. 

* Protection filters

These are specially made to protect the front lens element. These are often slightly more expensive than a UV filter and are made of a clear and more color neutral type of glass. Do you need a UV or protection filter?  Not necessarily, but it's cheaper to replace a filter than a lens.

* Polarizing filters

A polarizing filter consists of two parts, by turning the front part of the filter you determine which light the filter lets through. It is possible to give a photo extra contrast or to reduce reflections. Well-known examples for the use of a polarizing filter are the removal of reflections in windows, water or other reflective subjects. But also making the sky bluer or the grass greener. 

The use of a polarizing filter can also have drawbacks. Because a polarizing filter only allows light in a specific direction, less light will come in overall. The amount of light that comes in can be 1 to 2 stops less with a polarizing filter!

* ND Gradient Filters

Gradient filters are widely used for landscape photography. Since you want to see enough detail in light and dark parts. Installing a gradient filter eliminates the need to compromise between chewed-out skies and deep black shadows.

* ND filters

ND stands for Natural Density, also often called Gray filter in Dutch. An ND filter is a dark piece of glass that blocks the incoming light. The filters are available in different strengths. There are filters that only block a fraction of the light, to filters that block up to 10 stops of light! This makes it possible to freeze water and create fairytale images with slow shutter speeds. It is also a godsend if you want to shoot with a large aperture when there is too much light. Then you make the environment darker with an ND filter.  

Filters sometimes also have drawbacks. In some cases you don't want to use of a UV or protection filter. When shooting against a light source, the filter may reflect light and show this in the photo as a lens flare. In this case, it is wise to temporarily remove the filter from the lens.

Do you want to know more about filters? Or how do you use filters?

Workshop photography with filters

We have several photography workshops, where you can ask anything and learn a lot. Feel free to take a look between the various workshops, ask your question or register directly for the workshop 'shooting with filters'. 

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