Hi all,

I seem to get into all sorts of issues when I try capturing moving objects. I also have issues with focussing. I cant seem to figure out how to correct it. Appreciate if anyone could help.

Image 1.


I tried taking couple of butterflies in flight. As they move quite fast, focussing is totally messed up. I dont believe lens is an issue (sigma 17-70 which is pretty fast outdoors)

I guess it is some setting that I am missing out

IMAGE 2:


I can never seem to get a complete butterfly to focus. I get either the left wing or the right one to focus.

IMAGE 3:




The attempt was to focus the head and eye and have the wing motion effect. I cant seem to focus the head though...the wing movement seems to confuse the AF !!

[Mike Cash]

For the shots where the butterflies are not in flight, have you considered manual focus?

In AF, are you using AF.S or AF.C mode?

[kvish]

For the shots where the butterflies are not in flight, have you considered manual focus?

In AF, are you using AF.S or AF.C mode?

I havent tried Manual Focus and I use AF.C mode. The issue that I face with Sigma 17-70 is that its not "too-tele" to have a tripod and shoot butterflies. So I have to try my luck with handheld shots (and get so close that they fly off!) . By the time I get the manual focus done, its gone! I guess I need to practice faster M-focussing

[Peter Zack]

There are various ways to try and get this type of shot and for me, I try to use a longer lens to get a little further away and as Mike said shoot manually. Set up the shot on a plant that they will land and wait. Chasing them around is tough. Stop down the lens as much as you can (you may need to turn up the ISO for this) and still have a reasonably fast shutter speed.

Another method is to use the on board flash or external flash to freeze the shot. Again manually focus the shot and set the flash as a fill flash. I've tried AF.c and S with so - so results but with practice Af C will work when the flash is added to the set up.

[foxglove]

I tried taking couple of butterflies in flight. As they move quite fast, focussing is totally messed up. I dont believe lens is an issue (sigma 17-70 which is pretty fast outdoors)

I guess it is some setting that I am missing out

You're not missing a setting - it's just darned hard to catch butterflies in flight! At least with digital you can practice, practice, practice and it doesn't cost anything extra.

I can never seem to get a complete butterfly to focus. I get either the left wing or the right one to focus.

And you probably never will at that angle! Read up on depth of field (there have been a few recent threads on the topic), it's pretty well impossible to get sufficient dof to get the entire insect in focus at a shallow angle. Work with those limitations - the oof areas can be beautiful too, and help set off the area you keep in focus.

The attempt was to focus the head and eye and have the wing motion effect. I cant seem to focus the head though...the wing movement seems to confuse the AF !!

Cool idea! As several others have suggested, try focusing manually. Because of the shallow dof, the slightest focusing error puts the area of focus in entirely the wrong spot. You can also try focusing by moving your body back and forth - it's often much more sensitive than messing with the focus ring, and with such minute adjustments it should neither mess up your composition nor frighten the butterfly away.

The 17-70 is one of my favourite lenses. It's my standard walkabout lens, and I take lots of insect macros with it, although none I can find of butterflies! Watch your subjects, as someone suggested, figure out where they tend to land, and set yourself up nearby. They'll soon consider you part of the landscape. That's what I do with dragonflies. Extra bonus - you see a lot of interesting insect behaviour and come to appreciate them as more than something pretty to photograph. But you do have to be patient. Not so easy sometimes!

Keep practicing, you'll get more keepers as you go along. You would not believe the masses of crappy dragonfly photos I've got lurking on my hard drive! Hm, maybe you would...

Julie

[Mike Cash]

Here's a sort of extreme example of the narrow depth of field issue that foxglove mentioned. It's a macro photo of a common, ordinary kitchen match. But notice carefully that the entire head of the match is not in focus. The part closest to the camera is out of focus, as is the part farthest. Even the matchstick is out of focus. Look between the matchstick and the center of the head and you will see that the depth of clear focus was probably no more than 1mm.

[kvish]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Julie:
Couldnt agree with you more on the lens. It is a superb lens indeed. With the K100D and the 17-70, I cant ask for more!
Patience is a quality that is hard to have! I usually tend to react to situations and run for the camera when I spot a butterfly rather than wait for one

Mike Cash:
Thats a really close shot! Usually I tend to take the photos at the maximum aperture possible (70mm f4.5 for most of my macros!) since I found that that background blur (bokeh) is best at this setting. This time I will try stopping down a bit like how Peter Zack pointed out. I have tried this out earlier but had luck only when light was really good. (even at f8 I havent got it completely right!. Long way to go!!)


I guess ISO should do the trick in my next attempt.