A little flare & a question

anonymouscuban

I went to scout a new location today. Our daughter is in town so I took her and my wife along for the trip. Bailey and her mom ended up meeting us there because she was in need of a head shot for Bailey. I guess Mom is thinking of having a go at modeling or acting for her.

I thought I'd share a quick teaser. I was playing around with shooting into the sun and adding some lens flare. I think I got some good ones among many misses. This is one of Bailey and our daughter I love. I had to share this one tonight. I did nothing more than sharpen this shot and bring down the tones a bit with curves adjustment since it was a little washed out due to the flare.



I struggled with getting sharp focus on the eyes when shooting into the sun. The more the flare, the more I missed-focused. It seems that the camera has trouble finding focus when there is a lot of flare. Am I right? How do you guys deal with this? I know I can use a gobo but that will eliminate the flare that I want. :scratch

Aleksandar Vasic

For me beautiful....

lilmomma

Yeah, I shoot into the sun a lot (my favorite!) and it usually struggles a bit to get the focus. I just take more than I normally would of a shot and spot check to make sure I hit it.
Cute shot

Quincy T

Might have something to do with your sensor relying on contrast detection AF, and the flare greatly reduces contrast in the available light. Or, I could be talking out of my rear entirely. Not sure.

anonymouscuban

Hey momma... I did the same as you. Just took a few more shots to make sure I got one in focus. After a bit though, I switched to manual focus and that helped although I really suck at it.

anonymouscuban

Quincy T wrote: »

Might have something to do with your sensor relying on contrast detection AF, and the flare greatly reduces contrast in the available light. Or, I could be talking out of my rear entirely. Not sure.

I think you're right.

divamum

What gorgeous girls (and your daughter is an almost-exact cross between her parents - it's amazing how much she looks like both of you!!).

I'd up the black point just a tiny bit more, but this is a stunner.

Dreadnote

I suppose it depends on the depth of field you are using, but could you gobo with your hand even to the extent of seeing it in the frame just long enough to acquire focus? Alternatively you could set up on a tripod use a reflector or cardboard or whatever is handy in your off hand to block the sun while you focus.

Bryce Wilson

There is a handy little gadget, I forget where I saw it, that attaches to the hot shoe of a camera. It consists of a thin goose neck pole (like they use on mic stands) that has a clip and holder on one end for various sized pieces of cardboard. It would come in handy for doing shots like that.

anonymouscuban

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

There is a handy little gadget, I forget where I saw it, that attaches to the hot shoe of a camera. It consists of a thin goose neck pole (like they use on mic stands) that has a clip and holder on one end for various sized pieces of cardboard. It would come in handy for doing shots like that.

Nice! Another toy! My wife won't be happy.