# Focusing trouble at a dance recital. Need advice



## sfogel2 (May 21, 2011)

Hi, all...

Can anyone suggest why I had focus problems when shooting my daughter in her high school dance show? She was out of focus in this shot, even though I had the following settings on my Canon EOS Rebel T2i with an 85mm f/1.8 prime lens:

- One shot focusing
- Aperture priority, f/1.8, shutter speed 1/400
- ISO 3200
- Center focus point, pointed right at her face and hair. (Canon ZoomBrowser app shows focus point there.)
- Monopod
- Distance to subject roughly 40 to 50 feet

Another dancer a few feet to her right and 3 or 4 feet closer to me was in sharp focus. I don't get it!

Thanks

Steve


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## 480sparky (May 21, 2011)

Posting a photo would help, but I suspect you used "Auto" Everything", and using "Auto  Everything" sometimes is the worst option.  And shooting at f/1.8 is such a shallow DOF that focusing needs to be dead on.


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## table1349 (May 21, 2011)

sfogel2 said:


> Hi, all...
> 
> Can anyone suggest why I had focus problems when shooting my daughter in her high school dance show? She was out of focus in this shot, even though I had the following settings on my Canon EOS Rebel T2i with an 85mm f/1.8 prime lens:
> 
> ...



There is your problem. 

Set your focus to AI Servo.  One shot focusing focuses at the point you halfway depress the shutter button.  The subjects move and the focus doesn't adjust.  AI Servo continues to track the movement.  It is what any sports photographer uses because of motion.  Understanding Camera Autofocus


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## Robin Usagani (May 21, 2011)

gryphonslair99 said:


> There is your problem.
> 
> Set your focus to AI Servo. One shot focusing focuses at the point you halfway depress the shutter button. The subjects move and the focus doesn't adjust. AI Servo continues to track the movement. It is what any sports photographer uses because of motion. Understanding Camera Autofocus


 
Nah, I dont think that is the problem. I mean his DOF is really deep due to the distance to the subject.  Everything should be in focus 2-3 ft in front and behind her if you miss focus only by a little.  Movement shouldnt affect the focusing that much. 

My guess is the stage is just too dark. Most lenses are just not that good with focusing in the dark. You need to point the focusing point on a lighter part of the subject with enough contrast.  I say forget about trying to focus on her face, just focus on her body.


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## table1349 (May 21, 2011)

41/2 feet DOF is not that much to play with considering DOF is a sliding scale from the exact point focus.


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## Derrel (May 21, 2011)

At 40-50 feet, the area covered by the center AF bracket **could be** wide enough with an 85mm lens that it will "see" an area a bit wider than a single person's torso, and (especially if) if the background subject is contrasty, the AF system will take its lock on the background object, leading to a classic example of what's called back-focus. With shorter focal length lenses, the area covered by a single AF area can increase and be even wider, thus often leading to some weird focusing decisions on the part of the camera. Also, and this is not Canon-specific, but the ACTUAL areas "seen" by AF brackets in the viewfinder are often a bit different from what the scribed lines show...pretty common issue, actually...MANY cameras have a little bit of an offset to one side of the area that lies between the scribed lines and where the AF sensors *****actually*** do their work!!! So, even if you are aiming apparently correctly, it is very possible that your camera's AF system is actually looking a bit more off to one side of where the pair on brackets that indicate the edges of the AF area.


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## KmH (May 21, 2011)

Schwettylens said:


> Nah, I dont think that is the problem. I mean his DOF is really deep due to the distance to the subject.  Everything should be in focus 2-3 ft in front and behind her if you miss focus only by a little.  Movement shouldnt affect the focusing that much.


According to Online Depth of Field Calculator the total DOF would be 5.8 feet. 47% of the DOF would be in front of *the focus point* (2.7 feet) and 53% of the DOF would be behind *the focus point* (3.1 feet).

The key for the DOF is ...Where was the focus point?

But, single focus was still the wrong focusing mode to use.


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## gsgary (May 21, 2011)

Biggest problem is lack of knowledge, one shot focus is another and shooting at F1.8 you need to be spot on with focus


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## KBM1016 (May 25, 2011)

Anticipation is key for dance recitals!  I have shot recitals for the past 3 years and I have to make sure I focus on my subject, follow them and anticipate what they are going to do THEN click.  Anytime I just point and shoot in an instant it turns blurry.  It's all about the set up.  This one was an easy one to shoot since it was a solo but I had to make sure I was focused on her the whole time.  I saw the set up and knew her kick was coming so I was already focused on her and ready.  It's hard if you don't know much about dance.




IMG_9579 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr


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## OrionsByte (May 25, 2011)

Adding to what others have said, a couple other things could have caused problems:

Did you focus and recompose?  You said the center AF target was right on your daughter's face when you focused, was it still there when you actually took the photo?
The camera's autofocus needs light to work properly.  If you were shooting at f/1.8 1/400 at ISO 3200, I'm guessing it was pretty darn dark in there.  Not much for the AF to work with.


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## Robin Usagani (May 25, 2011)

At that far, just focus on any body part and you'll be fine.


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## sfogel2 (May 26, 2011)

OrionsByte said:


> Adding to what others have said, a couple other things could have caused problems:
> 
> Did you focus and recompose?  You said the center AF target was right on your daughter's face when you focused, was it still there when you actually took the photo?
> The camera's autofocus needs light to work properly.  If you were shooting at f/1.8 1/400 at ISO 3200, I'm guessing it was pretty darn dark in there.  Not much for the AF to work with.


 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I agree with the 2nd point: it was pretty damn dark in the room and the stage lighting was not the brightest. I did confirm that the center focus point was on my daughter by viewing the photo in Canon's ZoomBrowser app, which shows where the focus points were. Would there be an advantage to focusing on the torso instead of the face? Gives the AF point a wider area to capture

Thx

Steve


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