How to focus?

Mitchell

Just a quick technical question. This may seem obvious to some, but I'm wondering how everyone focuses for their self portraits. Is this just a lot of trial and error, or is there something obvious that I'm missing here?:dunno

Thanks.

Flyinggina

I haven't tried any shots yet for this challenge, but in the past I have measured the distance and set the manual focus. I'm going to try AF this time since I plan to be in the center of the picture. If that doesn't work, it will definitely be MF -- unless I take a picture of myself reflected in a mirror or other surface. I suspect that whatever I try there will be lots of trial and error. It will be interesting to see if others have more creative/useful thoughts on this.

Va

davev

Mitchell wrote:

Just a quick technical question. This may seem obvious to some, but I'm wondering how everyone focuses for their self portraits. Is this just a lot of trial and error, or is there something obvious that I'm missing here?

Thanks.

I do it a few different ways, depending on what kind of shot I'm going for.

Manual focus. I don't use this much, but it is a good option. Measure out say
10 feet, set something there for a mark, set the lens at 10 feet. This I would
think is the best for a full body shot.

Stand next to something that will be in the pic. Just focus on that object by
shooting a wider pic then crop, or move the focus point to the object.
Many of my photos are done this way, but with a high back chair that is on
wheels. Focus on the chair, sit down and either lean back, or roll the chair
back a foot.

Also, most of my self portrait shots are with so called point and shoot cameras.
They have a larger depth of field, so it's easier to be in the focus area.

Also I have forgone the blurred background and use a smaller aperture.

For the wolfman pic, I used a 2 second shutter at F8 ISO 50.
I was close to the camera so I just put one hand where my head would be,
and hit the shutter ( self timer ) with the other.



I hope this helps.

zigzag

I see you shoot Nikon - if you have Capture, you can shoot from the computer using Camera Control, including focus. This may or may not be useful. :

thegreenegg

For me it's just trail and error. I'm glad you posted though because other people are writing in with some ideas. I think trail and error is pretty much the way to go. Though I must say it's difficult especially since I'm not in sport and don't have stamina or anything. The only thing I don't like about my new SLR compared to my old kind of point and shot camera from HP is that my SLR only does one shot when put on the timer. My old one did two three seconds apart so you got twice as many pictures for your effort. Anyway, I guess that is the real challenge of this challenge.
Ashley

spider-t

thegreenegg wrote:

... The only thing I don't like about my new SLR compared to my old kind of point and shot camera from HP is that my SLR only does one shot when put on the timer. My old one did two three seconds apart so you got twice as many pictures for your effort. Anyway, I guess that is the real challenge of this challenge.
Ashley

My favorite way to get self portraits (or really group shots with me in them) is to set auto focus and use the wireless remote with the timer set to 2 seconds. That way I can hit the remote and have enough time to hide it before the shutter opens.

In this shot, I used my hiking boot on the tailgate as a roadside tripod. It helps to have a plan for how to hide the wireless remote, though. Or you end up looking like this with a somewhat unnatural fist balled around the remote. :

Trish
http://www.trishtunney.com/

cabbey

another alternative
One way I've accomplished manual focus on a self portrait was to temporarily place something roughly where my head would be and focus on that. In one case I used a spare mic stand that was in the studio I was shooting in. Just got myself positioned where I wanted to be, measured from my nose to a couple points in space (fixed objects like music stands, pianos, etc) then got up, replaced my chair with a mic stand positioned to the same measurements and went off to focus my camera. Once the shot was focused and framed, take the mic stand away, put my chair back, make sure I can get back into the spot (checked with the tape measure) then shot several takes using a timer release. This worked great for the lens I was shooting with which had no marks to focus by distance.

Mitchell

Just shot my self portraits today with a new camera. Interestingly, the camera has an Interval setting which will take a photo at whatever interval you chose. The best part is that it focuses automatically before each picture. Neat feature!