Have you heard of a technique called back button focus? In this free video, world renowned outdoor photographer Ian Plant takes you on a wildlife safari in Kenya for tips on back button focus. When you are doing wildlife photography, you should use your camera’s predictive autofocus mode because this allows you to track the animal as it moves. But what if the subject doesn’t fall on one of your autofocus points? Ian solves this problem by disabling the front shutter button focus, then enabling the back button focus. Using his own camera, he shows you how this button works. Whenever you press the button, the camera will find the focus point. When you release the button, the camera will lock focus, resulting in the sharp image you were aiming to achieve.
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2:22HDR Photography Tips: Capturing Mixed Lighting
This is a great room for capturing mixed light,” says Professional photographer and instructor, Tony Sweet. He refers to a musty room in the old prison that features bright skylight, shadows, and lamp light. To capture the HDR image, you will learn how Tony uses long exposures, dropping as low as minus five below aperture…
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2:57HDR Photography Tips for Capturing the Yard
The old prison yard. Outdoor setting. Light sky. Dark stone. Professional photographer and instructor, Tony Sweet, explains, “This is the perfect candidate for an HDR photo, from deep shade to bright sunlight.” You will learn that fast exposures work best in this type of exterior setting in order to minimize ghosting of the moving clouds.…
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4:04HDR Photography Tutorial: Capturing Window Light
How do you capture a scene bathed in mostly dark, natural light? In this Capturing Window Light video, professional photographer and instructor, Tony Sweet, takes you to a shadowy prison cell and uses a long set of exposures for his HDR photograph. The average, aperture priority setting calls for 15 seconds at 400 ISO. Tony…
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10:23HDR Editing Al Capone’s Prison Cell Photo
The six images have been captured, and now it’s time for processing Al Capone’s cell. Post production instructor, Tony Sweet, drags the HDR-processed RAW file into Photomatix, his favorite HDR software. When he runs into a problem with an overexposed skylight, he corrects with tone mapping and the white point point tool. He discusses saturation,…
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The photo of the tree and big cat was not taken with the lense he is holding in his hand.
Will simply using back button focus bring me excellent results he demonstrates in this video…?
Of course not…
It’s seems a bit deceptive… (sigh)
Until that time. . .
Hi Earl, the lens is irrelevant to back button focus, as it is a feature of the camera. All of the photos shown in the video were taken using back button focus. And of course simply using back button focus won’t ensure that you get great photos. It is a technical feature that allows you to more effectively track moving subjects and recompose without losing focus when using predictive autofocus – which is exactly what I say in the video. There’s nothing “deceptive” about it.
Since starting to use BBF some time ago, and getting used to it, I find it difficult to come up with a reason NOT to use it. Is there one?
Do I keep my thumb on the back button all the time when photographing birds in flight?
You should keep on focusing whenever you are tracking moving subjects.