How to set the focus of children's photography

The biggest challenge of children's photography is that the baby won't listen to your arrangement. What kind of action their next second will be, which requires photographers to have superb focusing methods, otherwise, no matter how good the moment is, if the picture is empty. The following is my sharing experience. Let's have a look.

Example 1. The children stand still and take pictures of you slowly. Camera settings:

F zone mode-single point autofocus mode-autofocus (AF-S)

When I shoot a child, I am used to aiming the lens at the child's eyes or face, in order to capture the child's clear expression, especially in the case of large aperture. Because the depth of field of the large aperture is too shallow, if you focus on the child's body, then the face will be blurred.

Shutter 1/60s aperture f/ 1.4 ISO/ 12800

In addition, I like to write my composition first, and then concentrate. That is, I think about the position of the child in the picture in advance and move the single focus of the camera to that position, so that I can press the shutter as soon as the child is in place. In this way, the success rate of focusing will be greatly improved and the shooting speed will be faster. Of course, if the child moves too fast, it is also good to adopt the traditional method of "focusing first, then composing" (that is, focusing on the preset center of the camera first, then moving the camera to compose, and finally pressing the shutter), but the success rate of focusing will be reduced.

Example 2. When children move or play fast, my camera settings:

Auto focus area mode-dynamic area auto focus mode-auto focus (AF-C)

When I shoot a child moving or playing fast, I will first focus on the child's eyes or face by half-pressing the shutter, and because I choose the continuous AF-C relationship, the camera's focusing system will continue to follow the child when the child moves.

Shutter 1/400s aperture f/2.8 ISO/400

As long as I keep the shutter half pressed and move the camera with the child's movements, I can shoot at the shutter as soon as I meet the satisfactory composition and movements, so I can definitely capture the actions you want to shoot clearly.

Of course, you can also use the high-speed shutter continuous shooting to capture a series of actions, and then you can choose the photos you want.

Example 3. My camera is set to shoot at a low angle:

Auto focus area mode-auto focus area auto focus mode-auto focus (AF-S)

Sometimes it is necessary to shoot children at a low angle for composition, but not through the viewfinder. I will choose automatic area autofocus, and the camera will help me decide the focus. Because I usually take close-ups in this way, the chances of focusing accurately are very high.

In addition, there is another focusing method called trap focusing, which is usually used to shoot insects such as butterflies. Sometimes I use it for fun.

For example, when children play on the swing, they usually move quickly. We can use manual focusing mode to focus on the place where the child will arrive, and press the shutter when the child swings to the in-focus position, and we can also take clear photos.

Shutter 1/2000s aperture f/4 ISO/400

However, if this focusing method is inexperienced or has poor eyesight, the success rate will be greatly reduced, and it takes constant practice and some luck to succeed. So this method is definitely not the best. The introduction here is just to share other methods, because this is the fun of photography.