Art of a Small Camera: low light photography for compact cameras and smartphones by GS Tyler

Author:GS Tyler [Tyler, GS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-08-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8 When You're in a Hurry

One carefully considered picture is far better than dozens of rushed snaps, but sometimes you only have a second to react. Here are some tips on how to save time without jeopardising quality. These tricks take a little practice, but could make the difference between getting the shot or missing it.

The six-foot rule

The six-foot rule applies to focusing:

Less than two feet: if your subject is less than two feet from the camera you have to focus very carefully. Pressing the camera’s macro focusing button (little flower symbol) warns the camera that the subject is close to the lens. The camera will take a few extra seconds to set the focus just right.

Between two and six feet: if your subject is between two and six feet from the camera you don’t need to be so accurate.

More than six feet: if your subject is more than six feet from the camera, you don’t need to focus accurately. Simply set the focus on your subject, or something behind your subject, and it will be fine. Even if you set the focus on a distant tree, your subject will still be in acceptable focus. In other words, you can’t go wrong.

This six-foot rule only applies to small compact cameras, but is easily adapted for other cameras. Technically, it’s known as the ‘hyperfocal distance’. On larger compact cameras it’s more like a ten-foot rule, or even a twenty-foot rule for entry-level DSLRs. On very small smartphone cameras it could be a three-foot rule. An iPhone 5 has a hyperfocal distance of five feet.

Knowing the hyperfocal distance of your camera is very useful and can save you a lot of time. For example, if you're taking pictures of racing cars or friends doing snowboard tricks, you can skip focusing and just concentrate on the exposure and composition. In reality you'll always achieve the best sharpness by setting your focus on your subject, but you don’t always have the time.

To find the hyperfocal distance of your camera just open the aperture wide, zoom out, set the focus on a distant tree, and take a picture. How close to the camera does something need to be before it’s noticeably out of focus? Make sure you use a fast shutter speed or you won't know if the blurred edges are due to motion blur or lack of focus: it’s easier to do this experiment outside on a sunny day.

Closing the aperture decreases the hyperfocal distance, which makes life even easier because your subject can be closer to the lens before you need to stress over focusing. Unfortunately, changing the amount of zoom changes the hyperfocal distance, so this experiment only works if you've zoomed out.

Knowing your hyperfocal distance is handy if you want to ‘shoot from the hip’, which is described in a few pages.

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