Page 91 - World of Animals - Issue #31

Wildlife photography

Tip 5
Focus in the dark

Make sure you’re in focus with these top tips
Focusing in low light can be tricky, with many cameras

struggling to find that focus point in AF mode. “The
easiest way to focus the lens at night is to spotlight

your subject with a flashlight, and autofocus on it,”
says Connor. Once you’ve done this, lock your camera
and lens to manual focus mode, so the focus doesn’t
shift again when you go to take the shot.
“If you have time, you can use the live view function
and manual focus while the screen is magnified to 5x

or 10x [to really get the focus accurate]. Avoid shining
the light in the subject’s eyes. If the subject is small,
use the outer edge of the light beam instead of the
brightest spot in the middle.”

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

In AF mode, shine a torch where Lock the focus by switching your Turn off the torch and patiently wait
you think your animal will move lens to MF mode. This means it won’t for the animal to come into the area
to to help your camera focus. Half start hunting for focus again when you focused on before pressing down
press the shutter to autofocus. you actually go to shoot. the shutter to take the shot.

@ Thinkstock
Get pin-sharp shots using
some precision focusing

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