How to determine whether the focus is on the night scene with a manual SLR camera

If it is a pure night scene, it is generally not necessary to shoot with a narrow aperture. In this case, my most recommended focusing method is to focus on the lights in the distance, at this time, the autofocus of the lens camera will accurately focus on the "infinity", whether it is a night scene, shooting the moon, shooting the starry sky, this way is the most convenient and effective - as for directly using manual focusing, twisting the focus ring to infinity, if you shoot the camera environment is too dark, you can't see the scale on the lens clearly....Even if you can see clearly, the current lens cannot guarantee that you will be "infinitely far away" and it will not deviate. This method is limited to "distant lights" that are not visible in your field of vision, such as when you go to the wilderness to shoot the Milky Way and shoot star trails.

If it is a night portrait, or a close-up subject in a night scene environment**, then at this time I still recommend you to do some "focus auxiliary light" processing, such as almost all Nikon SLRs, the body has a "focus auxiliary light" This kind of thing, it is very convenient for shooting night portraits and the like (of course, the distance should not be too far). But I'm using Canon, and maybe you too, Canon doesn't have such a thing as a "focus assist light", so having a small flashlight for shooting can be said to be the best choice. I always have a flashlight in my bag, which is a bit like EDC, and it is not only used for night shots, but also for everyday life.

However, if you are using a high-light flashlight, remember not to shine into the model's eyes when portraits are at night, and use the scattered light on the periphery of the spot to help focus.

Of course – if your question is how to quickly determine the focus (and possibly accuracy) during a night scene shot like Gate B, then I'd recommend the "simulate" method. I don't know what the industry calls it, but that's what I call it anyway. If you shoot a night scene of Gate B, 30s, F8, ISO100, then it is not wise to test shoot a 30-second ** to confirm whether it is in focus or whether it is accurate.

You can use a faster method to estimate the three parameters of fast light sensitivity, and try to speed up the shutter as much as possible while maintaining **: if I usually shoot night scenes with a lens of 17-40 and a maximum aperture of f4, then I will open the aperture to the maximum f4, which is two stops faster than f8; ISO I can increase from 100 to 12800,**7 stops,Counting the total of 9 stops of aperture**,Then I can accelerate the shutter at this time,Remember that the gap between each stop of the shutter is double,Then 30s to increase 1 stop** is 15s,9 stops** is about 1 15,If you are using an ultra-wide-angle lens,Then this shutter speed is almost guaranteed to be shaky even if you shoot handheld,At the same time, you don't need to spend 30 seconds but get a test shot more quickly, It is more convenient to determine whether you are in focus and whether it is correct**.

If there is a light in the night scene, it can be recognized with the naked eye.

What you see is what you get, what you see is what you want to shoot, that is, the focus is good.

Although it's manual, the metering is still automatic, you just need to adjust it to ** just right, and the focus is still automatic on m.

Tips for shooting at night:

Shooting night scenes is a must, if you use all manual, set the shutter a little smaller, below 16, not the smaller the better, ISO should not be very high, set to 100 or 200, the shutter speed is around 1 second, the key is to manually adjust the focus accurately.

As long as you buy the corresponding interface with the camera, you can, the high-end interface can still retain the spring light, the autofocus source is excitation, but it is expensive. Ordinary interfaces can only focus manually.

Both the camera's lens stabilization and body anti-hail sock shake are designed to minimize shake in handheld shots. However, when you're shooting with a tripod, remember to turn off this feature to reduce the blur caused by the original during work.

If you want to get a clear **, use the shutter release cable and reflector pre-lift to avoid the vibration caused by the reflector lifting when the shutter is pressed.

When you are shooting night scenes, you may have failed to shoot when you press the shutter, and one of the reasons is that the camera failed to focus, so the shooting function was locked, so the camera could not shoot, so what is the solution to this situation? Let's take a look at how to focus on SLR night shots!

(1) Look for a light-emitting object to autofocus

As long as there is light, you can focus successfully, although sometimes the glowing object (such as a street lamp, moon, etc.) will not fall exactly on the focus point, then we can focus on the luminous object by moving the focus point of the camera, but we must pay attention to the luminous object needs to be the same distance as the original focus, for example, originally wanted to focus on the top of the mountain (infinity), but because it is too dark to focus, then you can focus on the sky with a moon (luminous object), the result is infinite, then you can successfully shoot!

(ii) Use of external light sources to assist in autofocus

Sometimes, if the object to focus on is in the foreground, such as a gazebo at night, but because there is not enough light on the scene, the autofocus fails, then we can first maintain the autofocus, then turn on the flashlight to illuminate the object, and then set the camera to manual focus after half pressing to focus successfully. Once you're done, you can skip the focus step and concentrate on composing the shot and setting the aperture shutter. However, when using this method, it is important to pay attention to the position of the camera after setting the manual focus, and avoid moving the focus ruler (if any) on the lens, otherwise you will have to start the focus again.

(3) Directly switch to manual focus

The easiest way (but the most difficult for beginners) is to use manual focus entirely, which is more convenient for cameras with electronic viewfinders (EVFs) or with live displays, and some can even zoom in to focus to increase the chances of success.

(iv) Use preset focus points

This method is especially useful for shooting "infinite" scenes, such as taking photos of the starry sky. The principle is to do the second step mentioned in advance, but it can be done when the light is sufficient, focus the lens at infinity, and then mark the "focus at infinity" position on the lens (you can use a sticker), and when you use it, you can directly adjust it to manual focus and adjust the focus ring to the marker, which is very convenient and fast!

1. Focus on the brighter light source.

In night conditions, the camera cannot focus on blacks, so focus on areas with high brightness.

2. Focus on edges with high contrast.

The faces of objects in the dark are mostly black, for example, some buildings are surrounded by light, and it is easy for the camera to focus on these edges.

3. Use artificial light to focus first and fix the focus point.

Use a flashlight or strong LED to illuminate the object, and then use the camera to focus, but because artificial light will affect the metering, the metering and focusing must be separated, and it is best to shoot in manual mode (the first sleepy vertical m gear), you can lock it with **lock first**, and then use the flashlight to assist, press the shutter halfway to focus, turn off the flashlight, and complete the shooting.

4. If the focus point is broken and the composition is broken, you can focus first and then compose the picture.

Finally, using manual focus, lock the focus first, and then complete the composition by panning the camera, which is not affected by the autofocus by pressing the shutter.

5. When taking night landscape photos, it is best to extend the focus to infinity.

This ensures that the ** has a certain level of clarity.

6. Live view mode, there is always a suitable one for taking a few more photos.

Although it is feasible to shoot with a viewfinder at night, it is tiring because it may not be convenient to focus through a small viewfinder at night, but with live viewing, you can use the magnification function and manual focus to achieve accurate focusing results. In addition, you may wish to take a few more shots in the focus accessory, there is always a suitable one.

1: When shooting at night, use a tripod, and then, use the wide-angle end.

<>3: Use the portrait shooting mode in special scenes, and the specific setting method is similar to that of handheld night scenes.

Weighted metering (3D distance metering) is used for night scene metering, and spot metering is rarely used.

Of course, the mode is A-gear.,The aperture is small.,F8 on,Try to be in the distance.,The point can be the center of the picture.,It can also be the center of the picture.,It's also a partial center.,If it's not a visible building.,It's best not to pull over.。。。 Because the lens can generally be infinitely far away, the farther you match, with a small aperture, the clearer the overall picture will be.

To have high accuracy in manual focusing, you need to rely on your eyes to see the focus point displayed on the camera. If you change the split image focusing screen, you can also focus very accurately.

Metering is generally not required to shoot night scenes correctly, because most of them use M gear. Instead, first estimate the **combination**, then take a photo, view**, and then adjust the **parameters according to the picture situation.

After the brightness of the picture is adjusted appropriately, the next step is to focus the problem. Under normal circumstances, manual focus should be the distance between the subject you want to shoot and the camera first, then turn the focus ring on the lens, look at the distance scale on the lens, and turn it to the distance scale you need.

There's another method that I use more often. That is, first use the AF mode to focus on the subject (such as buildings, trees, etc. in the middle of the ground, not infinity), and after the camera is in focus, switch the focus mode to MF manual, and then do not turn the focus ring again, because it is in focus at this time. Finally, adjust the composition and ** combination, and press the shutter to shoot.