Help!?

[hope&beauty]

Newbie here, with what may seem like silly questions. While taking some family shots, more candid than posed, I notice that sometimes the things in the background are in focus instead of my subject. I may take 4 pictures in continuous shoot and 1 or 2 focus on the background.

Ex: Dad throwing his son up in air and it focuses on tree in background.
Ex: Posed shot of couple hugging under tree and it focuses on bridge in back.
EX: Child riding piggy back and background is focused and they are blurry.

How can I get more consistent results and make the camera focus on what I want it to?

I have a canon XTI, I like to shoot with my 50 prime. The shots I am talking were shot in:

AV mode f 2.8-5.6, Evaluative metering, Al Servo AF, continuous shoot.

[mai_lin]

You need to select the focus point manually. A smaller apeture (larger f-stop like f/8 ) will help. Plenty of light. In a group focus on the person in front.

I struggle with this too so I know what your struggling with.




Jen D.

[bobbyz]

Using center AF point helps. But AI servo mode on xxxD and xxD series is not good IMHO. That is where 1 series shine. Not that you can't use AI servo mode but the AF is quite slow and prone to picking up bg. In this respect xxxD are the worst then come xxD series. It also depends on what lens you using. With fast focussing primes, you have less of the problem than compared to slow zooms.

Which 50mm? The f1.8 version is slow to AF.

[hope&beauty]

Thank you for the post. I am new to photography and obviously on a budget. I do have the slow 50 1.8. I am slowly saving for another lens. In your opinion, what would be the best lens to buy next? I shoot mostly children and families, and struggle most with the lack of focus b/c the kids move fast! I also notice the posed family photos at times are not as sharp as I would like them. Is this also b/c of my equipment?

[bobbyz]

50mm f1.8 is very nice for its price. I don't shoot families/children yet but trying to get into it. I have tamron 28-75mm f2.8 and canon 85mm f1.8. Canon 85mm focus so much faster than my 50mm f1.8 but I am also using 1dmk2. For posed shots, your equipment is more than enough. I would not worry too much. Learn to use the right focus point and make sure you have enough DOF so that everyone is in focus.

For thing like dad throwing son in the air, you can still use one shot focus mode. You can prefocus on the dad and recompose. When he throws the kid up in the air, take the shot. No need to focus. Make sure you don't select do wide an aperture. I like most other folks use back * button to focus. It is custom function 4-3. Not sure about XTI but I think it should be there as my 10d, 30d also had it. That way you can focus by pressing * button the back rather than the shutter button.