When to Use Back Button Focus for Wildlife Photography
Ian Plant
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Description
Have you heard of a technique called back button focus? In this free video, world renowned outdoor photographer Ian Plant takes you on a wildlife safari in Kenya for tips on back button focus. When you are doing wildlife photography, you should use your camera’s predictive autofocus mode because this allows you to track the animal as it moves. But what if the subject doesn’t fall on one of your autofocus points? Ian solves this problem by disabling the front shutter button focus, then enabling the back button focus. Using his own camera, he shows you how this button works. Whenever you press the button, the camera will find the focus point. When you release the button, the camera will lock focus, resulting in the sharp image you were aiming to achieve.
Hi, I'm Ian Plant. And right now I'm on wildlife Safari in Kenya. And when I'm doing wildlife photography, I'm typically using my camera's predictive auto-focus mode which is great because it can track the subject as it moves around, as it comes closer or farther away from you. But there is a bit of a challenge when you wanna have a composition where your wildlife subject doesn't actually fall on one of your auto focus points. When you're in predictive auto focus mode and you focus on your subject and then move your camera to change your composition, the camera will still continue to try to focus and it'll focus on a new point and the subject will be out of focus.
So what I do is I disable the front shutter button focus on my camera, and instead I enabled back button focus. So there's a button at the back of your camera that will be assigned to the function of focusing your camera. Anytime you press the button, the camera will focus. And if you release your finger from the button the camera will stop focusing. This allows you to focus on your subject, lock focus by releasing your finger from the button recomposing, and then you can go ahead and take the shot and ensure that your subject is in perfect, sharp focus.
I'm Ian Plant and thanks for watching.
The photo of the tree and big cat was not taken with the lense he is holding in his hand. Will simply using back button focus bring me excellent results he demonstrates in this video...? Of course not... It's seems a bit deceptive... (sigh) Until that time. . .
Since starting to use BBF some time ago, and getting used to it, I find it difficult to come up with a reason NOT to use it. Is there one?
Do I keep my thumb on the back button all the time when photographing birds in flight?