Focusing at night?

[CoAMarcus]

Hi all, this is my first post, but I have been lurking for weeks now! Anywho, straight to the question: How do I focus properly at night? I was going to take some pictures last night of the sky with my new lens, and I wanted to include a statue we have in the back yard in the foreground. However, my camera would not auto focus, and it is very hard to manual focus when you only see a shadow through the lens. So, anyone have any suggestions on how I would do that?

The only thing I can think of is temporarily illuminating what I want in focus and focusing it like that, but the only problem with this is that I would be temporarily blinded when the light goes off, and a light may not always be available. Another thing I thought of is to use the flash on one picture with auto focus, and then right when it focuses switch it to manual to "lock" that focus. Other than that, I am stumped. I am hoping you guys have some cool way that makes a ton of sense that I didn't think of! Thanks a lot!

Below is the picture I was going to take, and you can see how out of focus the statue is. Thanks again!

[wulf]

What are camera are you using? If you have a manual focus option (eg. DSLR) you can set the focus by distance, either relying on the markings on the lens or focusing on something at the same distance and then changing your point of view. You can also take a shot, review it and adjust the focus to improve the result (easier if you have a reasonably deep depth of field to play with).

Wulf

[Digidave]

Welcome to DPS CoAMarcus. You'll have to give us a little more information. What camera are you using? Is it a point & shoot, or is it DSLR?

[CoAMarcus]

Ah, sorry about that. I am shooting with a Digital Rebel XTi. It was nearly pitch black, so I could barely read the markings on the lens to see what zoom I was at, and I certainly could not read what focus distance I should set it to. That is a good suggestion though, because I had never thought of that, and I will definitely keep that in mind.

[Digidave]

I personally haven't dealt with Canon cameras. But, I'll bet it has something equivalent to Nikon's Auto focus Assist Illuminator. It's a light that will light up the area you are pointing at so your camera is able to focus. What you would do is, aim at the statue, press the shutter release halfway(this is the point where the assist light should light up) to auto focus, then recompose your shot while still holding the shutter release halfway. One more setting you need to check is, the Auto Focus setting. On my Nikon you have a choice of AF-A, AF-S, or AF-C. It would need to be set to AF-S(Single-Servo AF). AF-C(Continuous-Servo AF) keeps refocusing to whatever you aim at. AF-A just automatically choose between the other 2.

[teinee]

Originally Posted by Digidave

One more setting you need to check is, the Auto Focus setting. On my Nikon you have a choice of AF-A, AF-S, or AF-C. It would need to be set to AF-S(Single-Servo AF). AF-C(Continuous-Servo AF) keeps refocusing to whatever you aim at. AF-A just automatically choose between the other 2.

Thank you for that explanation. I read my new owners manual, and I'm not sure if it is because there was so much to absorb, or what, but I never did get what that meant. Your putting it down like that just opened up my eyes. Thank you thank you. Always good when you can understand what your reading.

[GEli]

I always pack a little LED flashlight in my photo bag. It's really handy for tough focusing situations and doesn't use up camera battery power like the on-camera flash or AF assist beam might. It's also significantly brighter than the AF assist but more subtle than a strobing on camera flash. It can be used for light painting too.

[CoAMarcus]

Yeah, it looks like that is the way to go. I told my dad that I was having a problem with it, and his response was "Use a flashlight, idiot." Haha, yeah, for some reason that did not pop into my head at all, but I do think that is the way to go. Thanks for all your help!

Oh, and Digidave, the auto focus would not work at night. I could hear the servo in it focusing in one direction all the way, then all the way in the opposite direction. But that is great to know about the different servo settings. Thanks!

[bindibadgi]

Maybe a bit OT, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of artificial light in the shot itself either. You could set up a very soft light of some choice colour and illuminate the statue with that.