Shooting Cars

lamadelynnnn

Hello, I was recently at a car show and I was so excited to take some photos. I wasn't too sure what the best setting would be, so I messed around with it quite a bit trying to figure it out. I'm aware that to focus, you do a half press on the shutter button. I was doing so on several settings, and it wouldn't focus or take the photo. What does this mean? What can I do to prevent that from happening?

bruto

There are several possibilities. First of all, make sure that the little A-M switch on the lens did not accidentally get moved, and that the lens is fully installed, since no hints on operation will help if the problem is mechanical.

On the D3200, it's unfortunately very easy also to accidentally move the focus point off its default center position. Make sure that you check periodically, and use the [OK] button to recenter it unless you need it off center on purpose. I find that the way I hold the camera, I'm always shifting that point, and if I don't recheck often, I'm trying to focus on the sky and losing the shot. If you've been shooting in auto exposure mode, it defaults to multi point AF which usually will focus on something even if it's the wrong thing, but other modes may not use multi-point. So if the mode you were using uses a single point, or uses whatever the camera was set at manually, then it's very important to keep track of where that point is.

For an auto show I'd reset AF to single servo and single point, since the cars are standing still. This way you can aim at a specific point, lock focus, and if you desire, you can recompose by holding the shutter button halfway down, and the focus will remain where you first set it. If you cannot lock focus on exactly what you're aiming at, you can find something else at a similar distance, lock on that, and recompose. AF likes a bit of texture or contrast, and may not do well aimed at masses of even color, such as the sky, or an expanse of shiny metal.

The camera is set to work always in "focus priority", which means that it will not fire if it cannot find focus.

If the conditions are really impossible for auto focus, such as night time, you can switch to manual focus, whereupon the camera will fire whether it's in focus or not. On the kit lens, never force manual focus without switching AF off.

The only way to switch this camera to "release priority" in which the camera will fire whether or not it's focused, is to put it in manual mode, or to enable back button focusing, in which the shutter button does not operate the AF at all, and the AE/AF lock button is given over to auto focusing only. An acquired taste, best saved for a separate discussion.