C&C: Suggestion on where the focus went wrong?

[ijpinilla]

I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong. I know that the focus is off and definitely not where I wanted it to be, but I had no idea how to correct it.

Camera: Nikon D3100 w/ 18-55mm kit lens

Image info:
Aperture Priority
1/100s
f5.6
ISO 800
Focus mode: Continuous-servo AF
AF area mode: Dynamic
Metering: Center-weighted


convertedDSC_0384edit_030 by ijpinilla, on Flickr

 

[480sparky68 67]

Turn autofocus off and focus manually. The camera has no clue on what you want to focus on and just guesses based on a preset program built into the firmware.

 

[Overread36]

Auto focus works by finding the nearest point it can where there is a detectable difference in contrast, which it then uses to focus the lens upon. As such if you leave your camera with all the AF points active the camera will typically get focus on the nearest thing to yourself, no matter if its the subject you want or not. Better is to set it to single point AF where only one AF sensor is active and then you can point that at the subject for the camera to focus upon (remembering that the camera is only focusing on distance, not subject, so if you lock the AF and then move the camera/change the composition the AF will track under the new points its aimed at not the subject).

 

[ijpinilla]

Thanks so much, that makes so much sense! :}