My Bad Photography Habits (1) — Fear of Auto Focus

Before this one, it’s important to define terminology.

Manual Focus — a camera mode in which the user/photographer has to adjust focus by hand

Auto Focus — a camera mode in which the camera itself holds the primary responsibility of adjusting focus

When I first learned about Manual Focus (about a year into my photography career), it was an absolute game-changer. Not only did Manual Focus help bring out the best in my still landscape/cityscape shots, but it also forced me to understand and master the science behind my camera (for the better!).

Manual Focus, combined with a useful tool like focus peaking, can often lead to achieving the sharpest possible image.

For my first few years of photography, I exclusively shot still landscapes/cityscapes. In these scenarios, Manual Focus was perfect, as the scene itself (often a building, bridge, or mountain) wouldn’t move.

Because I was so content with the still landscape/cityscape shots I achieved by using Manual Focus, I somehow convinced myself that Auto Focus was the devil. In my narrow mind, I viewed Auto Focus as ‘cheating’ (a means to rely on the camera to do all the work for you).

This narrow-mindedness especially hindered my ability to shoot moving subjects.

As I shifted my photography interests to capturing trains and people (you know… things that move), my stubbornness in only using Manual Focus took a toll on my productivity out in the field.

Why did my productivity go down? The simple answer is — it’s not easy to manually focus on something that moves, and (because of this) I’d waste so much extra time trying to get that perfect shot. For every successful attempt at perfectly capturing a moving subject, there would be 20 failed attempts. I stupidly convinced myself that the one successful attempt was the result of “hard work and effort.”

This was my rationale for quite some time, until a friend whose expertise is street (moving people) photography, told me to start using Auto Focus. I’d still be able to control other settings like aperture and ISO (light settings), but Auto Focus would apparently greatly assist in the ‘focusing’ aspect.

I finally decided to give it a chance, and let’s just say, I quickly realized how much unproductive time I spent trying to capture moving subjects in Manual Focus. Just why would I waste 30 minutes trying to capture a moving scene in Manual Focus when I could capture the exact scene I wanted in 30 seconds with Auto Focus?

Once I learned to embrace the reality that Auto Focus is a useful mechanism, I would often get the perfectly in-focus shot of a moving subject on the first or second attempt. This did not mean I was making things easier for the sake of making things easier. Rather, this adjustment greatly improved my productivity as a photographer.

Upon finally embracing Auto Focus, I’ve gained these new perspectives:

• Different types of photography (still vs. moving) may require vastly different techniques.
• Manual Focus is typically best for still scenes and subjects.
• Auto Focus is typically best for moving scenes and subjects.
• Trust the camera! Don’t be of the belief that you must do everything yourself. Camera technology has come a long way, so trust the ability of your gear.
• Your talented eye plus the intricacies of your gear will achieve the best shot!

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As always, please check me out on the following platforms:

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/stonemik/

Website — https://www.msilverphoto.com/