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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2:50When professional photographer and instructor, Tony Sweet, discovered a musty, old barber shop in the prison, he knew he had an ideal HDR photograph. He calls it, “one of the greatest shots in all of the prison, challenging but worth the effort.” Tony shows you how to balance the bright, red barber chair with the
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2:05How do you go about capturing the root cell in HDR? The challenge for professional photographer and instructor, Tony Sweet, is the average tonality of the light throughout the room. He explains, “This is not a true HDR image, so I’ll take a single shot and double process it in post.” When he consults the
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8:05Post production instructor, Tony Sweet, has captured the HDR images in the old prison room under difficult lighting conditions. “It’s my favorite room in the prison,” Tony explains, “because of the various light sources and colors.” The next step is processing the mixed light. You will learn tone mapping in the Photomatix software. Tony starts
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1:57When it comes to seasonal photography, spring is a time of newness. Start out early for the best photos of the day so you can capture crisp, bright greens and stunning bursts of color in the flowers that bloom amid the new greenery.
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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.
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?
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.