Bill Fenske was in Chicago for the Architecture Open House so we spent the day taking advantage of amazing viewpoints around the city and interesting structures like the Oriental Theater and the Fine Arts Building. At the latter, we happened on what looked like a practice session for professional ballroom dancers. Bill taught me how to use continuous focus which had eluded me until today -- much more straightforward than I thought. The dancers gave me a great chance to practice the setting (AF-S on a Nikon). It made a huge difference for focusing! He also taught me a shortcut for setting ISO. A great photo day! Thanks Bill!
And thank you all for your comments and favs that led my shot of the Chicago park sculpture to #2 on TT.
PLEASE consider submitting an image for the ETSOOI-56 challenge. If you post it in the theme thread, it will boost the thread back into the 'hot topics' section which makes it easier to find. It's fun to do, please join in! Tag is ETSOOI-56
Fabulous collection of shots. I have also not come to grips with continuous focus. I shall have to do some more research if you say it is easier than you thought.
Super great shot and what a great treat to have these dancers to shoot. coincidentally, I was googling the continuous focusing today and got totally lost even reading the tutorials for dummies. Hopeless me.
How nice that you got together with another 365er! You picked the perfect subject here to photography....that bright salmon colored dress looks fabulous against that gray background! And, what's this I hear about an Architecture Open House?!!
the colour and swirl of her orange dress really catches the eye and moves around this wonderful sequence. Glad to know that even a seasoned photographer like you still learns new things!
This is wonderful Taffy and an easy Fav but I would really like to see some of the thumbnails full-size: I particularly like the second from left at the bottom and the fourth one down on the right - they're both so dynamic.
This is fantastic Taffy! I was thinking how good your focus was before I read your narrative. These images are all wonderful. Like Richard, I'd love to see some more of them in full size!
The action here would definitely be non-stop so it was the perfect chance for practicing a new technique. Well done! Wish I could've been there for the experience.
Fred and Ginger live on! Love the collage and love the dancing. Having met up with Bill and Vikki in Niagara this summer I know how fun a photo walk with him can be!
Wonderful collage Taffy, the colours are just right, and the collage reminds me of stills from a movie. I really must try continuous focus, something I've been putting off.
@taffy I love them both - the one in the second link is simply fabulous. If you havent done so, you should set your camera up for back-button focussing using the AF/AEL button. This button then activates focussing and a half-press on the shutter button takes care of the exposure - focussing needs to be set to AFC. Now here's the magic: a single press and release adjusts the focus and locks it until you press the back-button again; holding the button depressed activates continuous focussing. You have the best of both worlds without having to change the camera settings.
Wow this is a wonderful collage of beautiful action shots!! Love that dress - the colour really pops!! I love the sound of the Architecture open house - what a wonderful opportunity to see the fab buildings. Fav!
@vignouse I use back button to focus and then readjust my composition. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying...is there another step for setting it up specifically for AF-C? Or is that set up separately and when it's set up, then the back button uses AFC automatically?
@taffy Set your camera to be permanently in AF-C and then if you press and release the backbutton the focus is locked if you press and hold then it continues to focus. Or put another way: press and release = AF-S; press and hold = AF-C without needing to change the camera settings.
@panthora Here's the link... http://openhousechicago.org/about/
It's an amazing opportunity for the city and photographers who want to get into places usually not allowed. Great views from some of the places, interesting architecture. You should think about coming next October!
@vignouse Richard, you are absolutely BRILLIANT.....thank you, thank you so much for all your help, and this clarification!! I had just finished reading an article (I think it was in DPS) about BBF, and even though I had figured out how to set it in my camera menu, this fine point was never explained! It's like a light bulb went off in my head, and now I completely understand how to use it and why it is so important! Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart! And, Taffy, @taffy thank you for starting this discussion with your wonderful collage....we have both now benefited from Richard's erudition!! :-))))))
@vignouse@panthora@joansmor You do need to pay attention to the AF zone of course - I normally use a single point (which would have been fine for these dancers I guess) but for some fast moving subjects you may need to use multiple points. Fortunately - on a Nikon at least - it only takes a couple of seconds to change this setting.
@vignouse@joansmor
That's the other setting that always 'gets' me. I set the focus zone to 1 so that I can control exactly where the focus will be, and I have it set up that I move the square around as needed (or lock it in place with back button focus) on center and then recompose. But then, I can never remember how I set that up in the first place so I'm afraid to try to change it (last time I did change it, it went to multiple zones but I lost control of moving the square around). Can I ask you for advice for this part too? THANKS in advance. This has really been helpful!!
What a fabulous collection of images, perfect for continuous and back button focus, the only way to do it IMO, welcome to the world of action, you will be capturing BIF shots next!! which is always a challenge and very rewarding. A well deserved fav from me.
@vignouse An awesome resource, Richard! I'm going to print it out and use it as I'm working through the camera. I think I know which buttons are relevant but am not positive, but this will be well worth sorting out. Many thanks!
So nice to learn from another 365er!
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffyraphael/22289066555/in/dateposted-public/
It's an amazing opportunity for the city and photographers who want to get into places usually not allowed. Great views from some of the places, interesting architecture. You should think about coming next October!
That's the other setting that always 'gets' me. I set the focus zone to 1 so that I can control exactly where the focus will be, and I have it set up that I move the square around as needed (or lock it in place with back button focus) on center and then recompose. But then, I can never remember how I set that up in the first place so I'm afraid to try to change it (last time I did change it, it went to multiple zones but I lost control of moving the square around). Can I ask you for advice for this part too? THANKS in advance. This has really been helpful!!