tips needed for shooting at wide apertures

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Mirus Lux

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I really like shooting at wide apertures ie f1.8 but am put off by lack of knowledge on technique and tend to move to f4 upwards. I wondered if anyone could share any hints or tips for getting the best results?
 
The biggest problem with using a wide aperture like f/1.8 is that it is going to give you a fairly shallow depth of field, so you need to be more careful that your focusing is spot on. Wide apertures are less forgiving if you are slightly off.
 
Thanks. I tend to use av mode and one focus point but I am sure I read somewhere that this becomes useless below 5.6 am I correct or have I misunderstood this completely?
 
Firstly, we need to know what you are shooting? and how close you are to your subject?

If its a portrait up close it'll be different advice to doing landscapes :p

If portraits, move focus point to be over the eye, this will stop you have to focus and recompose which at 1.8 can cause issues :)

Regarding your second post, I think you may have misunderstood.
 
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Phew I hoped I had misunderstood! Yes normally I shoot at around f4 and try to focus on the eyes so I guess anything lower will need a bit of practice. It will be for portraits mainly and possibly some other stuff objects etc so if there are any other hints that would be great!
 
If using the widest of apertures at close distance focusing and recomposing is probably not going to be a great idea, use another focus point or forget AF and use manual focus. That might be much better.

Other than that once you've achieved focus try not to nod forward or back as you press the shutter button as an inch or two either way could throw your point of focus out. I've seen people do this and blame the lens.

Of course all this is really only crucial at close distances. If you are using wide apertures to shoot a subject further away you may have much more latitude to play with.
 
It also helps to use continuous shooting and fire off three shots as you'll have a better chance of hitting with one of them.
 
Another great tip. I really and try and get stuff right in a single frame and try and avoid taking loads of shots as some times it feels you get the shot more by luck than technique, but with such narrow margins I guess it is probably a good idea so that's really useful too.
 
Because I shoot a heck of a lot at wide apertures (1.4 if I can), and the focus confirmation on my camera is that good, I tend to use catch in focus (also called trap focus I think), so you can keep the shutter pressed but it will only fire when the subject is confirmed as in focus (this obviously only works when focussing manually)

Otherwise just practise! You won't hit it every time, but your keeper percentage will increase!
 
antihero said:
Because I shoot a heck of a lot at wide apertures (1.4 if I can), and the focus confirmation on my camera is that good, I tend to use catch in focus (also called trap focus I think), so you can keep the shutter pressed but it will only fire when the subject is confirmed as in focus (this obviously only works when focussing manually)

Otherwise just practise! You won't hit it every time, but your keeper percentage will increase!
Click to expand...

I had not heard of this technique so will look into it cheers. I know really it is all about practice!
 
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