Focal lock is one little trick that beginners to photography should master early so that it kind of becomes second nature to them. Reason – Focus Lock / Focal Lock is one of the most applied tricks in photography and virtually every camera, digital or film has the ability to do this.
The technique of focal lock is to focus the camera onto a certain element or area of a scene and keeping the focus locked to that element moving the camera to recompose the shot. Focus lock is most essential when you wish to place your subject off centre (remember the Rule of Thirds).
Pose your subject
Ok so now what exactly is focal lock?
The technique of focal lock is to focus the camera onto a certain element or area of a scene and keeping the focus locked to that element moving the camera to recompose the shot. Focus lock is most essential when you wish to place your subject off centre (remember the Rule of Thirds).
How to use Focus Lock?
Pose your subject
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| So now your subject is put right in the centre of the frame.Press the shutter release button half way |
Press the shutter release button half way
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| Now you can see that the camera has focused on the subject in the centre of the frame. |
Keeping the shutter release button half pressed, recompose your frame as you wish.
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| You can see that now even though your subject is off centre the camera's focus is on to the subject. |
Once you are satisfied with your framing, press the shutter release button fully down to take the shot your camera will take the shot with the person in focus even though she's not in the centre of the frame. Now that you have mastered this skill use it regularly so that it will become second nature to you. You will find Focal Lock very useful while shooting Macro and Portraits.
In the next article we will discuss about Photography - Tips For Beginners - What is Exif Data?