How to choose AF points: pros and cons of single point vs area selection

How to choose AF points:
pros and cons of single point vs area selection

While the lens’s maximum effective aperture determines the total amount of AF points available, the AF Area Selection mode enables you to choose how the camera uses them.

On a beginner-level camera, you have two choices: either manually select a single AF point, or activate all the AF points and let the camera decide where to focus.

The higher-end DSLRs give you a wider range of area modes to choose from, with manual, automatic and semi-automatic (where you manually pick a zone of AF points and the camera automatically tracks) options available for tailoring the performance to the situation and your style of shooting.

Below, our friends at the Canon magazine PhotoPlus explain what you get in the EOS 7D Mark II, 5D Mark III, 5DS/R and 1D X…

Speeding up selection
In a compatible EOS camera’s AF menu, you can remove the AF Area Selection mode options that you rarely use. If I’m shooting with AI Servo, depending on the subject, I may remove the single-point spot, regular AF point expansion and auto selection options.


This makes it quicker to go from a tighter point of focus to a wider tracking zone, or go back through options!

 Manual selection: Spot AF  
This option offers a finer measurement of focus than the standard single point. While it’s good for picking out a stationary subject from a detailed background, it’s pretty poor for AI Servo AF. It may appear to track focus in a similar way to single-point AF, but the smaller area it covers makes it more prone to dropping focus more often.

 Manual selection: 1 pt AF
Picking a single AF point that corresponds with the most important feature on a moving object – such as the head of a flying bird – gives you full control over focus tracking. The problem is that it can be deeply frustrating trying to keep that AF point positioned correctly, particularly with subjects that are close to the camera and moving erratically.

 Expand AF area
A good compromise between precision and ease of tracking. The AF points directly above and below and to the left and right of the selected point will automatically assist the main AF point, continuing to track the subject should you fail to keep the main point centred on it. You do need to initially acquire focus with the main point though.

 Expand AF area: Surround
Follows the same principle as Expand AF Area, but uses all eight neighbouring points surrounding the selected one to increase the chances of a smaller subject remaining in focus. In my experience, it’s more assured than the regular Expand AF Area setting, holding onto a subject more readily when the selected AF point drifts from the subject.

 Manual selection: Zone AF
Zone AF sees the total number of AF points split into nine smaller groups (the EOS 7D Mark II also has Large Zone AF with three groups) each of which can be manually selected. But the camera automatically chooses which AF point(s) to use within a zone and prioritizes objects that are closer to the camera, making it harder to pick out a specific target.

 Auto selection: 61/65-point AF  
With all available AF points active, you’re leaving it to the camera to keep track of the subject. It’s not entirely pot luck – you select a single AF point which the camera then uses to initially set the point of focus – but areas of high contrast or features in the foreground can cause the camera to refocus and lose the subject.

source
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2016/04/07/how-to-choose-af-points-pros-and-cons-of-single-point-vs-area-selection/

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PHOTO BASICS 5.CAPTURE CLEAR PHOTOS

PHOTO BASICS 
5.CAPTURE CLEAR PHOTOS

THE 1 FOCUSING MISTAKE OF BEGINNING PHOTOGRAPHERS

The #1 mistake I see from beginning photographers in terms of getting clear pictures, is that they aren’t being precise with their focus.  I often ask students where they are focusing, and I get answers like, “On the model’s face.”  The fact of the matter is that “the face” is far too large of an area to focus on for intimate portraits.  Allow me to explain why…
Suppose you’re taking a portrait of someone.  Now that you’ve learned how to use shallow depth-of-field from the second article in this series, you want to use it all the time in your portraits to get a creamy background behind the subject.  This means you’re usually shooting your portraits at f/2.8 or a similar low aperture.  Suppose, also, that you’re using a 100mm lens and standing 7 feet (2.1 meters) from the subject.  Did you know that, with these settings, that only 1.4 inches (3.5 centimeters) of the photo sharp?  That means that, if you focus on the person’s cheek, their eyes and nose will be partially blurry.
So if you want your photos to come out crystal clear and sharp, you need to focus PRECISELY, and make sure you have enough depth-of-field to make the subject come out sharp.  When shooting portraits, you will almost always focus on the person’s eye, since that is where the viewer of the photo will look first.  For landscape photographers, check out this article on where to focus in landscape photography.

HOW TO FOCUS ON ONE SPOT
When you were shooting in automatic mode on your camera, the camera would automatically find the subject and focus for you.  Now that you’re shooting manually, it’s time to take control of your focus as well.
Your camera ALWAYS focuses on one specific spot in the scene.  It is physically impossible for a lens to focus on two spots at once.  When you look through your viewfinder, you see a bunch of dots (Canon) or small boxes (Nikon).  Those markings show you where in the frame the camera is focusing.  This spot generally blinks red when the camera sets focus.

In the picture below, I chose to focus on the ant on the flower, since that is where I wanted people to look.  To do this, I set the camera to spot focus and used the four-way selector on the back of my DSLR to move the focus point onto the ant.

NOTICE THE RED ILLUMINATED FOCUS POINT RIGHT ON THE ANT? THAT’S WHERE I’M SETTING THE FOCUS FOR THIS SHOT.

Sometimes, the spot in the picture where you want to focus will not have a focus point available.  This is especially true on entry-level Canon Rebel or Nikon D3200 DSLRs, which do not have many focus points.  If you find that this is the case.

FOCUS SELECTIONS
I hope I didn’t confuse you earlier when I said that the camera can ONLY focus on one specific spot in the photo.  There are ways that you can activate multiple focus points at once, but in doing so, the camera is just choosing the best of both worlds and compromising between the focus selections to set the focus in the middle somewhere.
99% of the time when I’m out shooting I use spot focus, which allows me to move around the focus point in the viewfinder.  My thumb has become adept at constantly moving around the focus point using the four-way selector on the back of the camera as I compose a shot through the viewfinder.  Spot focus is great because you have exact control over where the focus is placed.
However, there are other focus selection options on most DSLR cameras.  Other than spot focus, you have the ability to choose a small group of between 3 and 5 focus points and tell the camera to choose the best of those points, or you could set your camera to determine which focus point to use all on its own.  I never let the camera take control of focus–it’s a recipe for blurry pictures.  When I’m shooting sports or fast-moving wildlife, I’ll sometimes set the camera to use any of the center area focus points and choose the best one, because the action happens faster than I can move the focus point.
Although there are certainly situations to use other focus selections, I would encourage you to use spot focus and get used to constantly moving around the focus point around the frame as you shoot for the next few months.
FOCUS MODES
Aside from selecting which focus point(s) the camera is using, you also need to set which type of autofocus the camera will use.  For most uses, you’ll want to leave your camera on “AF-S” (Nikon) or “One Shot” (Canon).  This means that the camera will acquire focus when you press half-way down on the shutter button, and then take the picture when you finish pressing all the way down on the shutter button.
The other main option is continuous focus (displayed on the camera as “AF-C” for Nikon cameras and “AI Servo” for Canon cameras).  This mode is used when the subject is moving.  Suppose you’re shooting a soccer player running toward you.  If you use one shot, then the camera focuses when you press half way down on the shutter, and by the time you finish pressing all the way down, the camera takes the picture.  In that split second, the athlete will have moved, so the picture will not turn out sharp.  Continuous focus (AF-C or AI SERVO) means that the camera continues to find focus all the way up to the instant that you snap the picture.
So why wouldn’t you want to use continuous focus all the time?  Because it’s slightly less precise than one shot.  So here’s the rule… use one shot (“AF-S” on Nikon, and “One Shot” on Canon) for all shots where the subject is reasonably still like landscapes or most portraits.  Use continuous focus (“AF-C” on Nikon, and “AI Servo” on Canon) for all fast-moving shots.
Note: Canon users will also see the option for “AI Focus” when choosing a focus mode.  There is a specific use for this, but honestly it’s just outdated technology.  I have tried it extensively even in the best case scenarios for this focus mode and have always achieved better results with AI Servo.
You have just learned a LOT of the basics of how your camera works, but there is much more to learn.

source
http://improvephotography.com/photography-basics/photography-basics-focus-sharpness/

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PHOTO BASICS LESSON 4. CREATIVE COMPOSITION

PHOTO BASICS LESSON 
4. CREATIVE COMPOSITION

COMPOSITION EXAMPLE
Ever had a driver’s license photo taken?  Or a mug shot?  Hopefully not the mug shot, but we all know how horrendous those photos look.  You can look your absolute best when you get to the driver’s license place, but the photo always makes you look terrible.  Why?  Because they position you in the middle of the frame, and then make you square off your shoulders to the camera.

From the photo below, you can see a humorous example of how photographers often envision a picture, and what the camera actually captures.  It’s funny, but unless you start paying attention to your composition, your pictures will always look like mugshots.

DRIVER’S LICENSE PHOTOS ALWAYS LOOK TERRIBLE BECAUSE THEY POSE YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PHOTO AND MAKE YOU SQUARE OFF TO THE CAMERA.

THE RULE OF THIRDS

Imagine a tic-tac-toe board placed on your picture.  The rule of thirds says that you should place whatever is most interesting or eye-catching in the photo on the intersection of the lines on the photo.  That’s really all there is to it!
If you’re shooting a portrait, decide which eye of the model is the focal point of the image.  Usually, it’s the eye closest to the camera.  Then, adjust the framing of the picture until the eye is on the intersection of the imaginary tic-tac-toe board.  Bingo!  You followed the rule of thirds.
The same is true when shooting a landscape.  In many or most landscapes, we like to include some of the foreground up close to the camera so as to give the sweeping landscape a sense of depth.  So if there is an interesting rock or plant in the foreground, I’ll place it on the bottom-right or bottom-left intersection of the frame.  The same is true without a foreground element.  You can place the horizon on the top or bottom third-line so that the horizon doesn’t cut the picture in half.
I wrote a much more complete article about the rule of thirds, which you can check out as well.

THE REAL RULE OF COMPOSITION

Ask most amateur photographers in the world what composition is, and 90% of them would answer something like “The rule of thirds and leading lines.”  Those are certainly important principles to follow, but I have found that these basic principles are far too simplistic.
When I go out and shoot, I usually find that trial-and-error is the only way to get strong compositions.  I loosely follow the rule of thirds and other compositional principles, but mostly it’s about getting down low and shooting up, or finding something to stand on to shoot down, or moving my tripod an inch here an an inch there, and really playing around until everything in the picture looks balanced and solid.  Don’t over-analyze the rules.

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http://improvephotography.com/photography-basics/photo-basics-lesson-4-creative-composition/

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PHOTO BASICS LESSON 3. MASTER YOUR CAMERA’S SHOOTING MODES

PHOTO BASICS LESSON
3. MASTER YOUR CAMERA’S SHOOTING MODES

THE GREAT FLAW OF SHOOTING “ICON MODES” ON YOUR CAMERA

ICON MODES HIGHLIGHTED IN RED.

Whenever I teach shooting modes, I always get the same question from members of my class, so I’m going to attempt to deal with that one right off the bat.  The question is: why do I need to learn how to set my camera’s settings manually when my camera already has built-in modes for sports, portraits, landscapes, etc?  (These are, by the way, referred to by photographers as the icon modes because they have icons of the shooting situation on the mode dial).
Again, an example will help to explain why these icon modes won’t work for those who want to become a “real” photographer.
With your new photography skills and your new fancy camera, your family members nominate you the official photographer at your family reunion.  It comes time to take the giant group picture with over 60 people in it (including your Uncle Bob who really shouldn’t have worn that ugly Hawaiian shirt).  What mode do you set the camera to?  The little portrait icon, because it’s a portrait!  But there is a problem… a really big problem.  The portrait mode on your camera automatically makes the aperture go really low, because it thinks you want shallow depth-of-field in your portrait.  But in this instance, it’s such a large group of people that you need full depth-of-field so that the people in the back aren’t out of focus.  The camera doesn’t know your intentions with this portrait, so half of the group looks blurry.
And thus we see why the little automatic icon modes (the landscape, portrait, sports modes, etc), simply will not work for photographers who want to learn to take professional-quality photos.

CREATIVE MODES HIGHLIGHTED IN YELLOW.

WHAT ARE CREATIVE MODES?

The Creative Modes on your camera are Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual Mode.  On most cameras, they are marked “P, A, S, M.”  These stand for “Program Mode, Aperture priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual Mode.”
If you use a Canon DSLR, then you’ll see that your camera company likes to feel “special” by changing up those names.  Canon cameras will show “P, Av, Tv, M” for the same exact modes.  “Av” is Canon’s version of Aperture Priority, and “Tv” is Canon’s version of Shutter Priority.
It may feel a little bit intimidating to move to these creative modes on your camera, but I’ll walk you step-by-step through each of the creative modes, how to use them, and what they do.
PROGRAM MODE (P)
Just trust me on this one–you don’t want to use it–ever.
But just in case you’re curious, program mode usually (it is slightly different on each camera model) sets the aperture and the shutter speed for you, and allows the photographer to set the white balance, ISO, and flash.
This mode is not a great choice for serious photographers because you can’t set the shutter speed to make sure the picture isn’t blurry, or the aperture to control the depth-of-field.
 APERTURE PRIORITY MODE (“A” ON MOST CAMERAS, “AV” ON CANON)
I’d love to see you use aperture priority for 95% of your shooting for the next several months.  It is the mode that most hobbyist photographers and even many many pro photographers shoot in most of the time.
When you shoot aperture priority mode, you set the aperture (the f-stop) and also the ISO.  The camera will then set a shutter speed for you so that the picture is properly exposed.
Aperture priority mode is powerful because it is amazingly simple to use, and still allows the photographer a lot of creative choice.  In fact, most competent photographers use aperture priority mode every single day.
Suppose you’re shooting friends and family at a party.  The background is really busy with people and things around the house, so you decide you want a blurry background in the photo (shallow depth-of-field).  To achieve this, you set the camera to f/3.5 which is a low aperture and which will blur out the background.  The first picture you take is of a person sitting on the couch next to a lamp.  The lamp is bright, so you want a fast shutter speed to get the correct exposure since your aperture is wide open.  Using aperture priority mode, the camera would automatically set that shutter speed for you.  Then, you want to take a picture of someone in a darker corner of the room.  You wouldn’t have to fiddle with camera settings at all, because the camera will automatically see that it is dark and choose a slower shutter speed.  All the while, you’re able to keep the aperture set to use creative depth-of-field.
If I could only teach you one thing in this photography basics series, it would be to set your camera in aperture priority for the next six months.  When you want full depth-of-field, choose a high f-stop (aperture).  When you want shallow depth of field, choose a lower f-stop.  Your pictures will DRAMATICALLY improve when you learn to control the depth-of-field.
SHUTTER PRIORITY MODE (“S” ON MOST CAMERAS, OR “TV” ON CANON CAMERAS)
Shutter priority mode sounds very useful, but the truth is that I have never found a professional photographer who uses it.  It is a bit difficult to explain why that is.
At first blush, it sounds convenient to have a mode where you could choose the shutter speed and ISO and let the camera choose the aperture for you.  For example, when shooting a school basketball game, you might think you’d want shutter priority mode because you could set the shutter speed fast enough for the quick-moving sports situation.
However, you might be surprised to learn that nearly all professional sports photographers I’ve worked with shoot in aperture priority mode.  Why?  Because the depth-of-field is key.  We want to control depth-of-field in our sports pictures and we just keep an eye on the shutter speed to make sure the camera isn’t picking one that is too low.  If it does, then we boost the ISO so that the camera will chose a faster shutter speed.
MANUAL MODE (“M”)
When I was 16 and drove a car for the first time, my teacher took me to a large parking lot.  He asked me to floor it as fast as I possibly could across the parking lot.  This was my first time driving!  So, I went for it.  I felt like I was FLYING!  Then, he told me half way across the parking lot to look at the speedometer.  I was only going 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers)!  The point is, the first time you try anything, it feels intimidating and like you’re out of control.

The first time any of my students use a camera in manual mode, I can see them terrified to try it out.  However, shooting in manual mode really isn’t as difficult as it may seem.  To understand manual mode, the example below will be helpful.

I took the picture above while at a photography conference in San Francisco.  In a situation like this, the bridge isn’t going anywhere, the bay isn’t going anywhere, the chain in front of me wasn’t going anywhere… I had a captive audience to say the least.  In situations like this, I always use manual mode.  I then set my shutter speed to 1/100.  I set my ISO to 100 because I wanted no noise in the picture and I knew if I needed more light, I could just slow down the shutter speed.
After taking the picture with the settings above, I realized that the picture was coming out a bit too dark with 1/100 shutter speed.  So, I slowed it down to 1/60 and it looked just how I wanted.
The point is that, eventually, you’ll find yourself wanting to shoot in manual mode for situations where you aren’t rushed to get the shot.  If you’re shooting sports, outdoor portraits, or other things, then aperture priority is simpler and faster than shooting in manual mode.
But since you’re still learning, the best option for the next few months is to get comfortable shooting in aperture priority mode 100% of the time.
In the next lesson in this series, you’re going to learn how you can dramatically improve your pictures by using creative compositions.  We’re past most of the technical stuff for now.

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http://improvephotography.com/photography-basics/shooting-modes/

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PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS 2.APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED, AND ISO

PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS 
2.APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED, AND ISO

From the example of the sunset picture in installment #1 of this photography basics series, you have learned the importance of taking full control over the exposure on your camera.  Now, it’s time to dig into your camera and learn the three most basic tools available to you in controlling the exposure.

Those tools are shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.  After I explain what each one does, I’ll explain why we need three separate tools to control the brightness or darkness of the photo.

APERTURE

The aperture is a small set of blades in the lens that controls how much light will enter the camera.  The blades create a octagonal shape that can be widened (we photogs call it shooting “wide open”), or closed down to a small hole.  Obviously, if you shoot with the aperture wide open, then more light is allowed into the camera than if the aperture is closed down to only allow a tiny hole of light to enter the camera.
So suppose you take a picture that is too bright.  How do you fix it?  Simply choose a smaller aperture.  Simple! Aperture sizes are measured by f-stops.  A high f-stop like f-22 means that the aperture hole is quite small, and a low f-stop like f/3.5 means that the aperture is wide open.

Let’s test your knowledge to make sure you have it down.  If you take a picture and it’s too dark at f/5.6, would you choose a lower f-stop number or a higher one?  Yep!  You’d choose a lower f-stop number, which opens up the aperture to let in more light. The size of the aperture controls more than the brightness or darkness of the picture, though.
The aperture also controls the depth-of-field.  Depth-of-field is how much of the picture is sharp, and how much is blurry.  If you want to take a picture of a person and have the background be blurry, you’d use shallow depth of field.  If you want to take a picture of a sweeping mountain vista, you’d want to use a small aperture size (high f-stop number) so that the entire scene is in sharp focus. If you, like me, are more of a visual learner, then I think this graphic will help solidify the information about aperture.  Take a minute and make sure you understand this info before moving on.

SHUTTER SPEED

The shutter is a small “curtain” in the camera that quickly rolls over the image sensor (the digital version of film) and allows light to shine onto the imaging sensor for a fraction of a second. The longer the shutter allows light to shine onto the image sensor, the brighter the picture since more light is gathered.  A darker picture is produced when the shutter moves very quickly and only allows light to touch the imaging sensor for a tiny fraction of a second. The duration that the shutter allows light onto the image sensor is called the shutter speed, and is measured in fractions of a second.  So a shuttedr speed of 1/2 of a second will allow more light to touch the image sensor and will produce a brighter picture than a shutter speed of 1/200 of a second. So if you’re taking a picture an it is too dark, you could use a slower shutter speed to allow the camera to gather more light.

Just as the aperture affects the exposure as well as the depth-of field, the shutter affects more than just the exposure.  The shutter speed is also principally responsible for controlling the amount of blur in a picture. If you think about it, it makes sense that the shutter speed controls how much blur is in the picture.
Imagine me sitting here at my computer desk waving to you (you don’t have to imagine very hard if you just look at the picture on the right).If you take a picture of me with a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second, then my hand will have moved in the time that the camera is recording the picture.  To get rid of the blur, you need to increase the shutter speed to around 1/320th of a second.  At this speed, my hand is still moving, but the camera takes the picture so fast that my hand travels only such a small distance that it is not noticeable in the picture.
The next question that most people ask is, how slow of a shutter speed can you use and still get a sharp picture?  Click here for a blog post that answers that exact question.

ISO

The funny thing about ISO is that it is an acronym, but nobody really knows what it stands for.  It is always just called ISO even though it really stands for International Organization for Standardization.  Every once in a while, you’ll hear an older photographer pronounce it “I-so”, but almost everyone pronounces it “I.S.O.” The ISO controls the exposure by using software in the camera to make it extra sensitive to light.
A high ISO such as ISO 1,600 will produce a brighter picture than a lower ISO such as ISO 100. The drawback to increasing the ISO is that it makes the picture noisier.  Digital noise is apparent when a photo looks grainy. Have you ever taken a picture at night with your cell phone or your pocket camera, and noticed that it looks really grainy?  That is because the camera tried to compensate for the dark scene by choosing a high ISO, which causes more grain.
What constitutes a “high” ISO is constantly changing.  Camera companies are constantly improving the ability of cameras to use high ISOs without as much grain.  A few years ago, only the highest-end pro DSLR cameras could achieve 2,000 ISO, and now even entry-level DSLR cameras can shoot at this level.  Since each camera is different, you would do well to do a few tests with your camera to see how high of an ISO you can shoot at without making the image overly grainy.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

I know exactly what you’re thinking: “Why do I need three tools to control the exposure!?!?  Wouldn’t one suffice?”  The answer is no, and I’ll explain why with an example. In January 2012, I took a trip to my favorite place on the planet to take pictures–Yellowstone National Park.  My guide informed us that the bighorn sheep in the park were dying off very quickly due to whooping cough, so I worked hard that week to capture pictures of the last few sheep in that area of the park. Around 9AM on a cloudy day, I found a small group of bighorn sheep and started photographing them with a long 600mm lens.  The early hour and clouded sky made the situation quite dark for shooting.
The lens I was working with (which costs $11,000–don’t they know I’ve gotta send my kids to college?)… Anyway, it had a maximum aperture size of f/4.  So I set my aperture at f/4 to gather as much light as possible.  This also impacted the depth-of field to blur out the rocks behind the bighorn sheep. Next, I set my shutter speed.  I wanted to capture action in the photo, so I set my camera to 1/1000th of a second shutter speed.  I knew that this fast of a shutter speed would prevent any motion blur from the sheep running on the mountain side. Then, I took a picture.  WAAAY too dark!  I couldn’t compromise my shutter speed or aperture, so I knew I needed to use the third player in the exposure triangle–the ISO.

I played around with my ISO and found that if I increased it to ISO 640, it made the picture bright enough to take the picture without making it overly grainy. Yahtzee!  This combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO worked out perfectly.  Now can you see why you need to know how to shutter, aperture, AND ISO, and know how to set them independently on your camera?

source
http://improvephotography.com/photography-basics/aperture-shutter-speed-and-iso/

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