AF and specific focus in situation

amyl0359

amyl0359

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amy
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ok so i do alot of dog portraits and if anyone has tried taking pics of animals they aint always still well majority are never still so imagine a situation like either me with my camera in one hand and dog in other or me with camera and tripod and dog owner holding dog trying to keep it still outdoors with lots of distractions :)
So im still quite new to photography and still learning and i use alot of select AF points to focus on the dogs eyes but what im finding is only one eye is in focus or part of both eyes now im currently trying the spot AF and locking the focus on one eye then recomposing and taking the picture so that both eyes are iin focus but majority of times the dog is moving so quick that i phisically cannot do that as the dog is not still enough so its back to the 1 click focus ... has anyone got any ideas on how i can get focus on the eyes really quickly ?

i did think of just using wide focus and sharpening just the eyes in elements but i dont like doing too much in elements.

thanks in advance for any suggestions :)
 
Do you mean that the dog is standing, seated or lying down, but fidgetting and moving its head a lot, or do you mean it is wandering around, leaping about or running?

I only shoot my own dog and usually I'm on my own when I do, so no helping hand from anyone else. I basically shoot either when the dog is running at a steady speed and direction or when it is basically rooted to the spot. For the running example I will use continuous AF and track the dog for a moment or several moments before releasing the shutter. I will tend to shoot such things with longer focal lengths so that the dog is not closing the gap with the camera too quickly. I do vary my AF point options, depending on how successful I am at the time. Typically I will start with just a single AF point, well positioned in the frame for the orientation of the dog to frame it well and I'll do my best to track the eyes or at least the head area. Sometimes I may have more success by expanding the AF area used. I have found using "all points" to be futile. The fewer you can get away with the more reliable the results.

If the dog is static, but wriggling a bit then it's really a question of patience and timing. Maybe pre-focus in single AF mode and then be ready and waiting for when the dog is facing as you would like and nail that focus on the eye before finally releasing the shutter. I rarely shoot with crazy thin DOF, but I find that so long as the closest eye is sharp the rest of the creature is all down to artistic preference. Example....

20110307_122347_4676_LR.jpg


I have never in my life used a tripod to shoot a dog. That would surely restrict your options to move with the dog and find the angle and framing you want quickly. Maybe that is the source of your difficulty.
 
i have only used a tripod once and dont like using a tripod but when i have put action images on TP before and got critique back lots of people were like use a tripod!!! ... but thanks anyways and i mean when the dog is either sat and his head is just moving around (alot easier) i can just get them shots but thats with one of the 9 AF points on my camera but the AF point doesnt always cover both eyes. And i do action shots like in water too i have wide focus and they seem alot better but want emphasis on the eyes and when a dog is moving so quickly and im shooting at 1/400 just to get the shot i find its too quick to make sure i got the point on the eyes nevermind trying to lock 2 focuses. do you get what i mean? like on your pic about it might b just me but i find the right eye not fully in focus although that might be down to wide aperture or edited in photoshop for the effect.
buddyaction-1.jpg

buddystood.jpg

dingle.jpg
 
Thanks.

Why do you need to focus on both eyes? Pick the closest eye and focus on that one. If you want both eyes in focus then make sure your DOF is adequate to accomplish that. If the dog is looking straight at you and the eyes are both at the same distance from the camera then just pick either one. It won't matter which.
 
well i dont mind it but im getting critique back that thats what is wrong with my pictures... :(
 
Can you point me to an example or two of that feedback? I did have a look but didn't spot any advice to use a tripod, which I think is completely unnecessary, and while there was a comment about focusing on the eye it didn't apply to every shot.
 
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I guess from the Exif Data, 1/5000th sec at f/2.0 on the 135mm lens that this is the reason your DoF is so shallow...The shutter speed is way overkill for this type of subject...The F/2.0 Aperture is great for the issue you have....I'm guessing that you are shooting in Aperture Priority ? If this is the case try selecting something like f/5.6 ...If the available light does not give you a shutter speed of at least 1/800th- 1/1000th sec then up the ISO to achieve these speeds...Your DoF will widen and you will find both eyes in focus...
 
Tug, I'm not the one with an issue. Shooting at f/2 was intentional. Of course 1/5000 was unnecessary, and I could have backed off the ISO from 200 to 100 to drop it, but it didn't actually matter. As it happens the image is slightly front focused relative to the intended focus target of the dog's right eye, but the point I was trying to illustrate is that I did not mind at all that the far eye was soft, nor the snout, nor anything else, so long as the near eye is sharp (enough). The image as displayed is unedited. I could have added some sharpening to create a little more pop in the near eye, but I just picked this as a quick example. The far eye I'm happy with as is.
 
thank you and sorry if its my fault for the confusion the comments werenot just from people on this site from camera clubs etc so cant highlight every post and comment from everywhere :) im happy with what i acheive so far so will carry on as i am and maybe put an example in a critique section if im not happy with something on a specific picture :)
 
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