Focus Points

[Kaye]

I have a question about focus area and focus points. On the Nikon d90 I can select either Single, Dynamic, Auto or 3d. Well I almost always use Auto except with sports (I use dynamic). Over the last week I have been trying to learn how to photograph barrel racing. When I did a search on Flickr (found some awesome photos) I noticed that the EXIF data of the ones I liked the best show that multiple focus points where used.

Example:
AFArea Mode: Auto-area AF
Auto Focus: Unknown (2)
Primary AFPoint: Center
AFPoints Used: Center, Mid-left, Upper-left, Far Left, Mid-right, Upper-right, Far Right

But when emailing the photographer they said that the photos where taken using the Dynamic mode. But my photos only show this type of EXIF data (multiple focus points) being used when I am in the Auto mode (and that's the only mode I see multiple focus points when taking photographs). When I use dynamic mode, all my photos have EXIF data as follows:

AFArea Mode: Unknown (1)
Auto Focus: Unknown (2)
Primary AFPoint: Center
AFPoints Used: Center

It just seems that Auto (with multiple focus points) would be hard to use when focusing on something moving that fast. But the Auto is my favorite mode to shoot in and I seem to really get sharper photos when I use it.

Look forward to hearing some of your opinions on this.

Thanks
Kaye

[Kaye]

Please some advise teachers. Thanks

[OsmosisStudios]

For starters, youre gonna have to wait more than 7 hours between posts to get a response. Be patient.

As for your problem, I have to say I'm not sure any of us are gonna be of much use, especially without examples. You might want to contact the photographers on flickr that you like. Personally, I use the Centre point exclusively.

[Kaye]

I did contact the photographer and she said that she was using dynamic. But I don't understand how that could be. I was mostly just looking to understand why the EXIF data would say multiple focus points were used in dynamic mode. I only get multiple focus points when I use the Auto mode (menu a1).

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by Kaye

I did contact the photographer and she said that she was using dynamic.

Is she using the Nikon D90 as well?

[Kaye]

Yes, she is also using the D90. I only searched for D90 users.

[Chip]

Kaye - I have a D90. When shooting sports, I use 3D exclusively, along with the center focus point. For me, when shooting moving subjects - as long as I get the moving subject in focus when I initially press the shutter 1/2 way down - the 3D tracking does a good job of keeping the subject in focus.

Practice has helped increase my "good focus" rate. I still miss-focus at times, most often focusing on something off in the background.

Hope this helps.

[RLucas]

To me, if you are referring to some of the shots on your flickr page, some of the softness can be attributed to such a large aperture. f2.8 is awful shallow for a moving target. I see by your exif you were shooting @ 1/1250. Try dropping back a stop, and this will close the aperture down to f4, so you can have a little more depth of field.

If the barrel is 20ft away, and using f2.8 on a 40mm lens, the depth of field is only around 8ft, which is about the size of the horse itself. However, stopping down to f4, would give you a dof of about 13ft. You have a little more room to play.

As for your focus point issue, I can't help there, as my lowly little D40 only has 3, and I primarily use the center point, on AF-A for moving shots. Even with a D90, I would probably still do the same.

Hope this helps. And good luck!

[Kaye]

Chip: Thanks for the suggestion. I've never used the 3d before and will try it tomorrow when we go back to the farm to practice with the kids.

RLucas: Thanks also for responding. I understand the DOF being the blur in the background, etc. But have never understood how to figure out what the dof in feet pertaining to the subject and surroundings. I also noticed that I used f2.8. Was thinking that was a BAD idea. I was shooting in Shutter Speed, and have since realized that I had ISO Auto Max set to 400. I am assuming that the Ap went as high (low number) as it could to try an compensate for the low light that day (cloudy day.)

Thanks for all your help.

[Nensi]

That seems pretty good to me and I hope you will keep up the good work in future as well.