Digital Camera - Ken Gilbert

94
PhotoAdvisor
your photos critiqued
EXPERt tIP
“you’llincreaseyour
chancesofgreat shots
if you shoot when
themoonishighinthe
skyand thestars are
emitting aconstant
light. twinkling stars
mightsuggest
atmospheric
disturbance that will
affect theoverall
clarity of your images.”
Ali Jennings, digital editor
CaMera SettINGS
AutoFocus
Modes
DigitalCamera July2010
CaMera SKILLS
Qi’mdeterminedtomake moreofmyd-sLr,but
some of theoptions seem
abit baffling.one thing i’m
particularly confused about
is when to usedifferent AF
modes.can youexplain?
JennyNichol, via email
aAli says: the twobasic autofocus (AF)
modes are Single and Continuous, often
also referred to as One-shotand Servo.
In most cases, the Single mode works best
because autofocus locks onto its target when
you apply a light press to the shutter release
button and remains fixed while you maintain the
light press, until fully pressing the button to take
your shot. Continuous autofocus mode is better
for moving targets, such as kids running around,
becausefocus continually tracks subjects.
shoot
theMooN
Qi recently tried to get some
good shotsofthe full moon
on aclear nightusing my sigma
150-500mmoslens, butall the
pictures lacked sharpness and
clarity. do you have any tips?
Dan Young, via email
aed says: Location is important, so get out
of town where there’s less air pollution,
which can cloud the issue. Because of the
very long focal length needed, it’s vital to keep
your camera perfectly still, so use asturdytripod
with a remote shutter release or the Self-timer
drive mode and, to avoid mirror-bounce, select
the Mirror Lock-up or exposure-delay function.
For the sharpest results, use a low ISo setting,
switch to Manual exposure mode and select an
aperture of around f/8 to f/11, trying a range of
shutter speeds. With f/11 at ISo100, ashutter
speed of 1/60 sec is a good starting point.
Portrait perfection 1 Forportraits, use the Single or One-shot
AF mode and switch to asingle AF point, which
you should line up with a subject’s eye.
Sporting action 3 Continuous AF mightnot keep up with
speedy targets,soswitch to Single AF and
pre-focus on a place the target is moving to.
Low ISO and a sturdy tripod
arecrucial elements of
successful lunar shooting
Moving targets 2 In Continuous or Servomodes, autofocus
will keep tracking moving targets,evenwhile
the mirror is flipping up, until the shutter opens.
AF points 4 Single-pointAFusually gives greatest
precision, but multi-point AF (dynamic area)
is good for tracking erratically moving targets.