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07/02/2012 06:11:13 PM · #1 |
How do you focus in the dark? I am hoping to have a plan for fireworks on July 4th but I'd also like to try light painting in the future. I've read a few articles on this, but no one says much about focusing. I plan to shoot in the dark, using slow shutter speeds/bulb mode and manual focus. My remote release should be here tomorrow, and I'll experiment once I have it, but I am sort of hoping for a bit of enlightenment in advance of the trial and error phase. Anyone have any tips for focusing in the dark? Thank you!
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07/02/2012 06:21:57 PM · #2 |
if you are good at judging distance use a focal length calculator or if its a long way off just short of infinity normally does it
for painting with light use someone holding a light be it a torch or iphone to focus on then you can use af to set it then lock in on mf or just use mf to focus on the light source pointing at the camera
or the other extreme use a 150000000 torch to light the subject from afar then focus
or trial and error if you have non of the above |
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07/02/2012 06:32:25 PM · #3 |
| I find a fast lens (f 1.8 or so) and a newer body helps a great deal.... But your 60D should be pretty good.. I suspect it's just that your lens is really slow, which equals crap focusing in low light conditions. |
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07/02/2012 06:37:19 PM · #4 |
Re-Reading your post, here's your best shot:
Focus to just short of infinity, go manual focus, go manual exposure or use a remote release.
Another tip: Balancing the fireworks and other lights may be a challenge - I suggest futzing around with the aperture to balance the two (fireworks are brighter, but shorter duration, while lighted buildings and ambient light conditions are much dimmer, but continuously on.)
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07/02/2012 06:54:18 PM · #5 |
| As others have already said, bring a bright spot flashlight for focusing while light painting. For the fireworks, that should be plenty bright. Wait for one to explode, catch focus with AF, then leave on MF and don't touch it. You can also do it pretty successfully manually, but test this out BEFOREHAND with each lens you'll be using and read up on hyperfocal distance. Manual can be great, but you'll likely either need to shoot very wide or with a stopped down aperture to ensure you get enough DoF without being able to see the results right away. Many lenses do not actually focus to infinity at the infinity mark, and alternately, many lenses will have their focus ring focus PAST infinity, meaning everything is out of focus if you accidentally go a bit past, so check out your lenses and how they behave in this sense before you get out in the dark. |
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07/02/2012 07:53:14 PM · #6 |
For the fireworks, you would probably want to shoot at iso 100 or 200, and f 11 or 16 to keep from overexposing and washing out all the colors, so, focus is not all that critical. Just set for manual focus, turn the focus ring to infinity, then back off just a little. Another thing to you may be able to use for focus with the fireworks if you are pretty close to where they are being launched, are the bright red "punk' sticks that they use to light them off if it's a manual fired show.
For the light painting, use manual focus. You can use a laser pointer on the subject to have a spot to focus on. I'm surprised that Cory didn't mention that, since he's a fan of lasers. If you can physically go to the subject, you can set a small flash light on the subject, and focus on it, then remove it for the shot. If you have live view, you can use that and zoom the LCD in on the flashlight to see exact focus.
One other thing to be aware of is that correctly exposed night shots may appear very bright in the LCD because your eyes are adjusted to the low ambient light. To demonstrate this effect, have a couple of correctly exposed daytime shots that you can pull up on the LCD when you are in the dark, and compare to what you are shooting. It took me a long time to figure out why my night shots were being underexposed, and that was the main reason.
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07/02/2012 10:01:38 PM · #7 |
Thanks, everyone, for all the great advice. I'll have to devise some sort of a test for my lens (singular) to see how much I need to back off from infinity.
So for the fireworks, I plan to go with ISO 100, f16, bulb and manual focus (slightly backed off from infinity setting). I'll just hold the shutter open for a few seconds at a time based on the action. And I'll try to keep the frame wide enough so I don't have to move around. Think I may setup the camera in vertical mode and try to avoid the landscape and ground lights as much as possible. Should be fun if i can get a good spot.
I think I will just need to fiddle with focus once I see where everything is happening. I like the idea of auto focus on one of the bursts before switching to manual. With the f16 DOF, that should be enough for a pretty clear focus -- especially since it is just streams of light anyway. I do have live view, so I can try that if it seems like plan A isn't working. Also, I will keep some daytime exposures on the chip for comparison, but I'm afraid to do too much analysis for fear of wasting my opportunity, so I may just stick to the plan and hope for the best.
I really want to figure out about the wind, too. I hadn't thought about that before, but it would be great to avoid the smoke because the best fireworks tend to be at the end once the smoke is at its worst.
Thanks again for all the tips! |
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07/03/2012 12:21:32 AM · #8 |
There is another good thread about shooting fireworks somewhere. One very good suggestion was to lock the shutter open and use a black card to cover the lens between bursts, so that you can get a lot of action in one shot without getting too much landscape or background in the fireworks images.
You may also want to experiment with camera movement. This was done by moving the camera. Details with the image.
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07/03/2012 07:57:07 AM · #9 |
| Regarding fireworks specifically, he's a great rundown by noted photographer Joe McNally |
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