Nice bright image well composed however dof is very shallow and as a consequence it looks like the children are a little soft which takes from the overall effect.
The front of the raft does seem sharper than the kinds. A camera that will take multiple shots with focal distance bracketed would help. My approach to such photos is to set the camera to use only the center focus sensor (which may be the fastest and most accurate focus sensor). I shoot with the focus sensor on one of the kids, and the lens zoomed out a bit to ensure the raft is fully within the frame even though it is off-center a bit. Then I crop a bit to get a frame like yours.
A camera with face detection might also be effective though I wonder if it would always be quick enough in a situation like this.
Good shot, and I imagine it gets tricky with the movement of the boat as well as the raft, things happen rather quickly at this point.
Hi again "rgreen",
I see from the EXIF data; Nikon D5000, 200mm lens focal length, iso 400, 1/1600s at f/6.3
Not bad choices there, but I'd support "Hclarkx" suggestion of using the central focus point on a shot like this, although may you are already.
I can see that the kid's heads probably move about too erratically to risk attempting focusing on a head, but the lower body might be stable enough, but hey, you were there, tell us a bit more about the shot.
All the best,
Thank for all of the great comments. The focus point was on the top so I will adjust that next time. It was a challenge to get any shot at all. We were actually tring to make the kids fly off the raft and so the boat was turning back and forth and jumping over its own waves. I was happy to get anything at all. We did finally get them to fly off...maybe I will post those another time.
Hclarkx, I am going to research my camera and see if it has an auto bracket for the focus. That would be a huge help.
Thanks again.
Hi Rex,
nice shot.
Yes the kids faces could have been a bit sharper, but considering the shooting conditions, I think it's great. Well done.
You will find no auto bracket for focus, what I would suggest is a try to spot focus on the kids, and us a no less than f.8 this will give sufficient dof to get something sharp, also a slower shutter will add movement blur which will enhance the image.