More on BOKEH with a pinch of auto focus

Here are some notes connecting bokeh with auto focus and how the two can become trademark tools. I should add that I rarely manual focus anymore and only do when my subject is stationary. With a baby, nuh-uh. Hasn’t happened yet. But it’s a personal choice, and an option most lenses afford you with. 

Auto focus is when you half-press the shutter to reveal focus points. The camera will usually beep or the focus point may even blink telling you your focal point is locked. It’s then you press the shutter fully and the picture is snapped. With a large f/stop (small aperture), many focus points will show up as everything in the foreground and background will be sharp. With a small f/stop (large aperture), you may only get one or two. And even then, your camera will need to determine something of contrast before it locks a focal point. 

For example, the camera auto focused on Isla’s eyes, nose and lips. Once it locked, I clicked and got this shot featuring blur on both arms and down onto her romper. 

1/320 at f/2.8, ISO 800

See? A closer look…

Now, if you hold your finger in the half-press, you can lock the focus and reposition the camera, therefore recomposing the shot. This is key when using a small f/stop to get a large aperture for lots of yummy bokeh blur. 

That’s how I got this while we were just hanging on the couch:
1/320 at f/2.8, ISO 800
When I first half-pressed the shutter, the focus points rested on her toy. I then shifted the entire camera to point directly at Isla, half-pressed so her eye and ear were highlighted, kept my finger half-pressed on the locked focus and turned back to frame the shot this way. 
A closer look…

Even if bokeh is beyond old news to you and all “Camera 101” that has you rolling your eyes in the back row, take this week to play around with aperture either in manual or aperture priority. Once you know inside and out your sweet spots of blur, taking pictures on the fly without scratching your head over f/stops is in your future. Totally. A little birdie even told me so.