Photography Focus Problem
This is the kind of thing that makes me want to tear my hair out in frustration. I happened to see a little toad that looked just exactly like a piece of bark. I had to get off a couple of quick shots with the digital camera before it jumped away, and didn’t have time to mess around with all the options and controls. The camera simply would not focus on the toad. It was set to “auto.” This is the sad result.
As you see, the background is captured perfectly. I tried to fill the whole screen with the toad, zooming in til I could zoom no more – all to no avail. I didn’t have any problem taking a photograph of small flowers, but I suppose that’s because there weren’t really two distinct field depths.
So what is the secret, photographers? If this happens again, I shall scream.
Assuming it’s one of the new digitals and not a 35mm, there should be a mode button that shifts to “macro” mode. Sometimes it’s a multi-function button that also combines other modes like “flash off” and “flash on”.
You might also have a “spot” button. That will set the focus to whatever is at the center of the frame. The problem is you may have to hold the spot button as you take the picture. Not the easiest thing to do as the cameras keep getting ever smaller.
Hope this helps.
Canon Powershot A610, a wonderful little digital my hubster gave me for my birthday. I didn’t have it on Macro – I see that now as an option, or maybe the M is for Manual – that probably would have worked too. Still I did see a rectangular focus finder – and it was trained on the frog. I moved in close, I backed up. Either way, I would zoom out or in and would see it just miss the right focus. Argggh.