Focus Baby, focus

As a new comer to the concert photo scene I have had to learn alot… and fast (still do).
3 songs in the pit doesn’t allow for much time to learn as you go.. normally it’s not till afterwords when you think you have great shots start downloading them for post-production and realize you didn’t do as well as you thought. Been there..done that…got the tee-shirt…

If you look through some of my sets, you’ll see plenty of mistakes (shouldn’t admit that) and I try to point them out when I see where I went off track, we all gotta learn, right and maybe my mistakes can help others.

But I digress…again..

If you travel in any photo circles you certainly hear the word “Tack Sharp” where your focus is right on the money. In portrait work, “tack sharp” is usually in reference to the eyes of the subject. In concert work this can be a little more subjective. (ie Guitar player outta focus, in front of the in focus drummer). It also doesn’t help that your are shooting with a extremely limited depth of field, f2.8, f1.4 etc. This means that your composition decisions have to be that much more selective. And in the world of the 3 songs & out, they gotta be quick man. Quick!

The 1..2..3 … (get your manual out)

• Set focus to be triggered by back of the camera
• Set camera to AF-C (autofocus -continuous)
• Choose AF-Area modes: either Single Point or Dynamic Area
• Finally, when shooting choose non-selectable or selectable focus points

My Setup
When shooting shows, my first decision is to change the function of how my camera will focus. If your new to photography your camera is probably setup like this.. Focus happens on the half press of the shutter release…. so you do, 1/2 press hold & focus and press the rest of the way down to expose the shot. I have disconnected this option and changed my camera so that my AF (auto focus) is now controlled by the  AE-L/AF-L button on the back of the camera. (check your manual, most camera’s should be able to do this). It’s a little weird at first, but the more you work with it, the more comfortable you get.

The other setting I use is AF-C, (continuous autofocus). It is what it says, instead of having to compose,  focus, shoot, re-compose, focus & shoot I can use the combination of AF-C tied to the AE-L/AF-L button to get AF lock quicker and track a musician by holding the button down. Once I get a composition I like, it’s already in focus and I can take the shot. My response time and acquiring composition happen so much faster.

For real life event photography, the benefits of this AF setup translate into being able to quickly acquire focus on a subject, maintain focus, and release the shutter in controlled, deliberate steps.

Gottcha
and here is where my problem thus lie.. You (me too) have to remember that autofocus works by looking for areas of the most contrast.. like a black microphone and a singer brightly lit by a spotlight.. get where I’m going?… and more often then not, the focus is going to lock onto the mic.. Trust me I know, I have a ton of images that prove that. Talking to some other concert photographers about this, I learned a couple things. One thing could be that the individual AF sensors for DSLRs may be larger than the indicated region in the viewfinder. So more often then not, it’s gonna grab the mic as the “target”. So I should try using the focus point selector and see if shifting my focus point away from the center helps The other is your choice of focusing areas (set in the camera’s menu). Single Point or Dynamic Area. I’m told that with Dynamic Area you run a greater risk of the mic being the “target”.

The Solution
When I have one I’ll let you know… LOL! … really though, I have a run of fall/winter shows coming up and I have a two fold plan. One is to use Single Point Area focus and the other is to try to work with the selector and change the focus point during the shoot using the focus selector on the back on my camera. I am a little nervous about this one though, it seems like it would take a lot more time to keep shift that focus point around during a fast paced show. But one of the best ways to learn is to try it out.. so thats my plan. I let you know what happens.

Want more on concert photography focus? Check out..
IShootShows.com Q&A
Concert photographer Alan Hess

Do you have any tips to share for tricks to optimize autofocus performance for concert photography?