Focusing people coming towards you

As above really. Is there a way of doing so? or do you literally just press the shutter all the way?

Seems a lot of my pics of people walking towards you, it goes out of focus really easily... and im a bit blind usiing manual focus

set the shutter to AI-Servo: AI Servo is Canon's predictive autofocus system. The name is derived from the use of Artificial Intelligence used to predict the speed and distance of the moving subject. It greatly increases your chance of getting a sharp image when your subject is moving.

i thought that was more for horizontal moving subjects?

Me too...

If the subject were moving horizontally, then the subject going out of focus wouldn't be a problem. It'd still be on the same focal plane so it'd be in focus no matter how far left, right, up or down it went.

For subject coming towards you or away from you, AI Servo is the AF mode to use, as was already mentioned earlier although it's not the shutter that's set to AI Servo but the auto focusing mode.

PacAce wrote:
If the subject were moving horizontally, then the subject going out of focus wouldn't be a problem. It'd still be on the same focal plane so it'd be in focus no matter how far left, right, up or down it went.

For subject coming towards you or away from you, AI Servo is the AF mode to use, as was already mentioned earlier although it's not the shutter that's set to AI Servo but the auto focusing mode.

Thanks for pointing out that dumbfound thought process I had while typing that ...

ahhh thanks for clearing that up,i will have to have a butchers at this next time

Also try smaller apereture, that should give you more DOF so you won't lose focus so quickly. I'm sure between this and servo, you should be set.

Just as an FYI. the aperture you choose to shoot at has no relevance to how AIServo works. This is because focusing is done with the lens wide open. The aperture closes down only after you press the shutter release button and the camera is about to take a picture. AF shuts off and doesn't turn back on again until the picture is taken and the shutter closes again.

What I'm saying is the Larger the DOF, the more area that will be in focus. So the combination between the 2 should work out well. I'm not talking about how servo works, only about the area in focus.

OK, sorry. I must have misunderstood what you meant by your statement "that should give you more DOF so you won't lose focus so quickly" then.

bad wording on my part. But what I'm saying does make sense, right?

Yes it does.

I keep my camera set to AI-servo. I'd rather have it there and not need it than try to switch it over when I do need it. The only time I change is when I know I have a stationary subject and I can take advantage of the multiple focus points.