need help for swing portrait

Jwar

I need some help on trying to get a good shot of my son while swinging at the park playground. I want good bokeh while still getting sharp eyes. I guess the main problem i'm having is the camera is out of focus when the capture is made. Wanted some ideas so i can try next time. I'm using a D90 and 50mm1.8 and would like to use natural light. I was thinking on using focus lock but not sure if that's the best way or how to do it. My goal is to capture his smile with the breeze in his hair while he swings...

ideas???

thanks

Swartzy

I'm not a Nikon guy so the camera speak may be a bit different. Switch to AI Servo (think sports type focusing system). Dial in for the proper exposure of background/setting. If shooting in AV, adjust the EC + or - as necessary...then aim your flash (on camera) directly at your subject and lower the FEC -1 1/3rd (I'm told the Nikon flash system doesn't need as much - FEC as Canon). Shooting in Manual mode allows for ISO, DOF (aperture) and shutter speed. Then lock on focus as the child swings and fire away. Just make sure you put your flash in high speed sync if your shutter speed is over your camera's sync (1/250th). Lowering your ISO will allow you to achieve this as well as your aperture.

Here's an example using AV w/fill flash:

adbsgicom

I've gotten some nice shots of my daughter, but with the sky as b/g at the top of the swing just as she starts coming forward. The hair is moving a lot, and the motion is reduced. Agreeing w/ Swartzy, the servo mode will be your friend for any shots you try taking at the low-point of the swing since the movement is so fast, but steady speed is what servo is good at, and the change should be well-accounted for.

Don't try locking focus, since if you have the lens wide open, your focus will be off almost guaranteed (unless you are really good at timing the shot).

divamum

Hmmm... like these?


f6.3


f7.1


They were taken with a 200L 2.8. There were a LOT of realllllyyy bad shots in that series because it was tricky to nail the focus! But I made sure to shoot loads - I figured a tele lens, moving subject and fairly shallow dof was a recipe for "missed focus" - and was really happy with the ones where I got it right. If I remember correctly I prefocused on something and then tried to press the shutter when the swing would be in that spot. I may have tried a few using tracking-focus, but I'm never very good at using it, so I think I abandoned it and went back to prefocusing and/or hoping I could just get it right. The AF on the 200 2.8 is fast, but you do have to be VERY accurate with *where* you put the focus point.... tha's why prefocusing was more successful.

Good luck! It's tricky, but trying makes for a fun afternoon at the park

Joe Dukovac

I did this one of my son Louis last summer at the playground. What I did was stood in front of him, and let my wife keep pushing him. I basically set my focus to a fixed point, and shot on high speed (8fps) and took a buttload of shots, then sat down and weeded through them.

Once I found the one I liked the best I did the post processing on it. Desaturated the colours a bit, added some blur to give the sense of motion and then also added a semi-transluscent border. Of course there were a few more little things I did, but this should give you a pretty good picture (no pun intended) on what I did.

Joe