Essential Nikon camera settings: 2. Focus Tracking

When you're photographing moving subjects you need to choose the right focus mode to keep them keen. Here's how…

What is it in a nutshell?

There are three main autofocus modes on Nikon DSLRs: single, continuous and automatic. If you want to track a moving subject you need to select the continuous autofocusing mode (AF-C).

In this way the camera will continuously set the focus whenever the shutter release is half-pressed, enabling it to track subjects that are travelling towards or away from your camera.

Why is it so important?

Photographing moving subjects is a challenge for any focusing system, then you require to pick out the right way in order to afford yourself the best probability of keeping your subject sharp.

Even though the automatic AF mode will change between individual and continuous AF when it notices a moving field, it's still safer to switch the camera to AF-C mode so that it will continuously track moving subjects.

In continuous mode the camera automatically switches to predictive focusing; these analyses the movement of the subject and tries to anticipate where it will be at the exact minute when you go off the shutter.

It's not entirely foolproof, especially when the issue is acting erratically, but it still affords you the highest hit rate of any AF mode for moving cases.

SEE MORE 10 Camera Settings You Need to Learn to Master Your Nikon

How do you use it?

In one case you have chosen AF-C mode, the camera will automatically set the focus for as long as you hold the shutter release half-ironed out. To practice this style successfully, it's significant to maintain the focus point positioned over the matter for as long as possible, otherwise the camera will center on some other portion of the picture, and you'll then need to reform and refocus, which can mean that you lose the stark minute.

What you can ignore: 3D AF tracking

This focusing mode relies on the focus locking on to the field, and it will then affect the focus point automatically if the subject moves in the physical body. This can influence considerably in some places, but the camera will constantly struggle to place the main topic if it's close to the background or contains similar tones and colors to the environs.

Thus, in most sites it's often more beneficial to apply a single AF point, and keep this positioned over the matter for as long as you possibly can.

Taking it further: Back-button focusing

If you're photographing fast-moving fields, it can be hard to go on the autofocus activated and get hold of photos at the same time.

The answer is to put up your Nikon so that focusing is activated by a button along the bottom and not the shutter release; this is known as back-button focusing. Pro models have a dedicated button for this, but on most other models you can assign the AE-L/AF-L button to it.

Source Link: http://www.techradar.com/how-to/photography-video-capture/cameras/10-camera-settings-you-need-to-learn-to-master-your-nikon-and-10-you-can-manage-without-1320864

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