[Christine Tham]

Shot of what? A burry picture?

To be precise, a shot where the focus is the empty space between two or more objects.

If you are saying that's something you and your DSLR can easily achieve (taking blurry photos focused on empty space) then fine - that's a great capability and good on you and may you live long and prosper.

My DSLR seems to have a really "annoying" habit of wanting to focus on actual objects rather than empty space.

[Christine Tham]

Isn't that shot what Quick Shift Focus is for? Lock focus on the girl in front, give it touch to move the focus back, shoot.

Actually, that is a good suggestion. Probably not precise enough as kenafein pointed out, but a perfectly valid technique.

Only problem is the Pentax probably wouldn't be able to lock focus on the girl quickly enough - bwahaha ... there, that's my flame bait for today :-)

On a more serious note, I have never been able to use that feature of the DA lenses effectively. Probably my lack of skills - I would prefer just to go full manual. I can't use the equivalent mode on the NEX either (It's called DMF I think).

[jsherman999]

It's not as easy as you think. Remember, I was focusing midway between the three people - where there is empty space - nothing for the DSLR to lock focus on.

It's not about moving focus points.

I seem to remember another time where you screwed up a shot and then claimed you did it 'on purpose'. Common theme with you?

C'mon, it's an awkward, bad shot, looks like you composed quickly and then missed focus on top of it. It happens. And any DSLR can do that as well, focus peaking is not required.

.

[jsherman999]

...
What actually happened was - I was actually trying to take a completely different photo. When the girl sat down, my immediate thought was to take a photo of her. I then realised I could not focus in time, started panicking and decided to focus peak in the zone. She then upped and left.

That's more like it, thanks for being honest.

To me that would be an entirely different story.

I wanted to tell a story about three people with mobile phones, all engrossed in them and therefore "defocused" from the world around them. Choosing a picture where the focus was in the middle was trying to convey the conversation between them that they never had but could have. .

Oops. Story changed - is it a screwed up shot in which you weren't expecting her to sit down and missed focus, or did you have time to think about "telling a story about people being defocused"?

.

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Last edited by jsherman999; 10-26-2013 at 09:24 PM.

[tuco]

To be precise, a shot where the focus is the empty space between two or more objects.

Negative space; positive space, it's all the same. You pick a focus point. I gave a link to one with that utilizes even more precision.

[kenafein]

That's more like it, thanks for being honest.



Oops. Story changed - is it a screwed up shot in which you weren't expecting her to sit down and missed focus, or did you have time to think about "telling a story about people being defocused"?

.

What's with all the un-chivalrous behavior? Whether you like the shot or not, or you see any value in the method for this shot, she saw something in it. A last minute change can still be intentional. Photographers have to think fast. She has shared many great photos on this forum. Why do you need to call her a liar? I thought we were a bit more polite on this forum.

[dcBear78]

What was this thread about?

[Digitalis]

ou made a comment about it taking only a "split second" on a Pentax. Yeah, right. Did you include thinking time, and moving your finger to the control?

Do you have trouble finding the AF mode switch on a Pentax DSLR? I haven't had a problem with it.

Didn't see any "alternate suggestion" for focusing in the space between three people,

My alternate suggestion was to manually zone focus. Which is a dominant technique amongst street photographers.

What was this thread about?

It's about a blurry image of three people on their mobile phones which is supposed to depict how disconnected we all are from each other - or something like that....and the end of Nikon. You know, that old chestnut.

[Christine Tham]

My alternate suggestion was to manually zone focus.

My original comment was " this would have been a shot that would not have been easy for a DSLR with AF to achieve"

Not quite sure how your alternate suggestion would help the DSLR to AF.

[prime.partisan]

What was this thread about?

It's about people being so "defocused" about the end of Nikon they rather discuss something entirely different. Like, how focus peaking helps to focus on nothing. Or how a blurry picture can be like Schrodinger's cat. Nobody knows if it's deliberate or a mistake, or both. Or maybe it's all just BS.

[Digitalis]

My original comment was " this would have been a shot that would not have been easy for a DSLR with AF to achieve"

You don't have to use AF to get the most out of a DSLR. Tuco also suggested a focus re-compose technique which would also have been equally as effective, albeit somewhat slower than a zone focusing approach.

[Christine Tham]

You don't have to use AF to get the most out of a DSLR. Tuco also suggested a focus re-compose technique which would also have been equally as effective, albeit somewhat slower than a zone focusing approach.

But I wasn't at all arguing that AF is needed "to get the most out of a DSLR" - that's a strawman argument you have introduced.

Slower would have meant missing the shot.

Not sure focus and recompose would have worked, since there is nothing to "focus" on. bossa suggested the grill, which is not quite in the desired focus range, or the seat, which is probably not articulated enough to enable a precise focus lock.

Some other suggestions have merit, such as using the quick shift focus feature of the DA lens, or prefocusing. But given the conditions, none of those techniques would have been as effective or quick enough.

So basically my statement still stands, as I originally phrased it.

[Rondec]

I would just say that I use auto focus, but the mode where I select which point I use. In practice, it takes a second to choose a different point. No need to take your eye from the viewfinder, just hit a couple of buttons and your point is where you want and the focus snaps there. But I don't think it looks exactly like a high action photo situation...

[Digitalis]

But given the conditions, none of those techniques would have been as effective or quick enough.

yes, they would have.

[Kunzite]

Part of the MILC propaganda is trying to portray DSLRs as huge, cumbersome beasts impossible to tame.
Unfortunately, people are falling for that. The situation described is easily handled by one of the techniques shown - if that's what you really want. Is your DSLR stuck in all-AF points auto mode, impossible to change? Does your lens miss a focus ring?

The funny thing is that MILCs are often more limited. I was playing with a certain entry level model, trying hard to figure out how to manually focus that thing. What I found instead - 3 different ways of zooming. Wow.