By: Thorsten Overgaard. May 22, 2019.
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If I have to act fast, taking the photo is the first thing, focus is the next thing. I often start photographing before I set the focus as second priority.
The point is that sometimes a possible photo happens so fast that you know it will be gone in a second. Most of us, as responsible photographers, intuitively set the focus first, then take the photo. But in some cases, then taking a photo will be all you do. The subject or scene would be gone in the time you take to focus.
In the recent Amsterdam Workshop a mother and son came around the corner on bicycle, so I pointed the 75mm Summilux and startet photographing. No time to focus.
"The Flying Dutchman" in Amsterdam. Leica M10-P with Leica 75mm Summilux-M f/1.4.
I couldn't know if I got it. It's almost unlikely, but fundamentally the chance that it might work is the reason to try it.
I took only one photo, that's how fast they went. And in this case I got lucky, and it worked.
Sometimes you see two persons talking on a bench, and it’s a great photo. It could be gone in half a second, or it could continue for another two minutes. You don’t know. But what you do know is that if you spend that half second focusing, you will get a sharp image, but the scene or expression might be gone.
That’s why I point the camera and start photographing, and at the same time I start working the focus.
Surprisingly often, the focus is where it’s should be. It’s a lottery, so there is a chance it’s there, and there’s probably a lot more chances that it isn’t. For the chance it’s already there, you start photographing and then refine the focus as you frame and take photos.
This is such an unnatural technique I wanted to share it with you. We feel that we should nail the focus first. But sometimes we need to nail the photo before we bother with focus.
Shoot first, focus later.
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| It doesn't always work, as you can see. But as it is always with photography, you protect and care for the ones that works, not the one that didn't. |
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More traidtionally, I prepare the focus on a point in the frame and wait for the subject to approach; then take a burst of 2-3 photos as they come into the spot I set the focus on. |
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It might not always work. More traditionally, I focus fist and take a photo, then focus again and take another one. When I am dealing with fast-moving objects, I focus on a spot, hold the frame, wait for the subject to arrive into the spot I focused on, then take 2-3 photos in a burst.
More to come...
I hope you enjoyed today's Story Behind That Picture. As always, feel free to email me with questions, ideas and suggestions.
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