This September will be my 30th high school reunion; therefore, it was about 32 years ago that I first became hooked on photography. I have no idea how many photos that I’ve taken since then. Surely, I would imagine that it easily numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Yet, It seems like I keep on learning. No. Not learning new technologies, but learning what not to do. Each time I attempt to expand my photographic horizons into a new zone, there’s more to learn.
Take, for example, this photo. It could have been a really good photo, but it turns out to have to go to the blooper pile. As you can see, there is nothing in focus except the people in the distance. Everything up close, a blur. So, what happened? My camera has two modes of auto focus. In the first mode, the auto focus gets activated when you depress the shutter button half way. The second mode, AF-Only, the focus gets activated when you press the AF button, located on the back of the camera.
99.9% of the time, I keep the camera in AF-only mode and use the button on the back. Yesterday, as the action was so frenetic, I thought that it might be a good idea to switch to shutter focus mode. Wrong! I discovered that that was even more confusing. I’ve become very used to the AF-only mode and have gotten used to, especially in sports, keeping my shutter button partially depressed in anticipation of the shot. Unfortunately, in shutter focus mode, with the camera in continuous focus, caused the camera to lock on to unintended focal point, as you can see here. It was constantly changing focus because my finger was on the button. With the AF-only button, I have gotten into a habit of pressing it only slightly before I fire. It’s a nice choreography that I’ve got going on.
So, the lesson that I learned was: Dance with the one that brung ya! Meaning, stick with old faithful. Use what works. Don’t second guess yourself in a critical situation. Save the experimentation for experimental times. 
Also, if possible, shoot at f/5.6 or greater. I’d rather have sharp, somewhat noisy photos, than to miss the opportunity. However, not even f/5.6 would have saved me here.
Oh, by the way, again, that’s Robert flying through the air. He does seem to get around! 
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11 Responses to “Still making mistakes after 30+ years”
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Ouch. I have run up against that one. It smarts. On the posititive side, the sharp disappointment will pretty much guarantee no repeats. In my case, I learned that I do well to keep my experiments straight without pressure. When the stakes are high, I inevitablly fall back on old habits even if that produces a disaster. What joy would there there be in this journey, if we didn’t take risks and learn?
Hope Robert’s okay.
Interesting you post about this because I have been reading up on this and trying to figure it out. I’m a bit confused so will need to read back up on it. And, then practice with it so I really learn and then master it.
That’s usually when I screw up, when I try something new during a moment I really want to “get-the-shots.” I try to remember to practice these things when it doesn’t matter so much — but I sometimes forget. Nice series of photos.
Yeah, all of those dang modes! Try! Try! Try, again!
I grew tired of AF and recently switched to full MF using MF old Contax Carl Zeiss lenses on the 5Dmk2 as well as using the Leica M8. Sometimes, going back to basics helps and I find that MF can even be more reliable than AF if you know how to use it. :p
I most certainly agree with that. The only ‘problem’ with manual focus on an AF camera is that there is no split screen to be absolutely sure; however, I do switch to manual focus sometimes, but in this case, even though I missed a few shots, the AF was certainly an advantage. The D300′s AF is very fast and sure, for the most part. With action moving forward, backward, left, right, diagonally, and sometimes up and down, it would have been extremely hard to focus manually.
Jeez, Paul, I wonder how the sports photographers shot such good photos at boxing matches in the old days with their totally manual Speed Graphics!
That’s a very good question. The answer is, practice!
continuous- dynamic area 21 point should solve the problem of it picking the wrong spot to focus, it also helps to set trap focus if action is moving to or from your vantage point.
I’ll have to double check, Ray. I think I used the same that I usually use for basketball, which is 9-point, continuous dynamic area. That’s a good point. I could use a wider focus area. I’ve tried the 54 point, but found it too unpredictable, as it uses almost the entire view area.
works well to start with center single point also then no question as to which points it will follow. Looks like it was fun.