Focusing, pre-dawn

[Lon Overacker]

Greetings,

Just wanted to see what kinds of best practices folks use when setting up for a shot in the early morning just before dawn. Just for an example and sake of discussion, let's say it's the shore of a lake, water is still and you're lucky to have some clouds that might produce some color and reflections as the sun get's closer to the horizon.
Let's assume a medium wide-angle lense like a 90 or 125, wanting to emphasize the reflection. Let's even say there's an object in the water/foreground like a rock, reeds or something.

In this situation this is how I would normally work. Setup the camera/lens in all the zero'd positions. since it's pretty dark I don't need the dark cloth yet. By now there's enough light on the far horizon to get some sort of focus on the horizon/infinity. Wide angle lens, don't need much tilt, but I give it just a little, guessing. I've used a flashlight at times to lighten the foreground object, if I have one; check the ground glass while holding the flash light. Other times if a flashlight just won't work, it's the old guessing game.. back off the infinity focus a bit (1/3 in front 2/3 in back thinking),
stop down and then start on thinking about exposure...

anyway, I'm looking for ways to reduce the time of setup so I can be ready for the fast changing light. Oh, and then trying to use a split ND in a situation like this adds to the setup and frustration.

Would love to hear anyone's tips/tricks or how they go about setup in these situations.

Thanks!
Lon

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've used a pen light, laid on the ground in the scene (so when you look at the gg it sits close to the top). I can then fiddle with tilt/focus until it's right. Sometimes I've set up my camera just before dark and left it there covered up, whilst I slept in my tent. Wake up in the morning (hoping that nothing has shifted during the night and making sure there is no condensation on the lens!) and made my exposure when the time was right.

[Eric Leppanen]

I think the most important thing is to get the plane of focus (via tilt and/or swing) established, as this is the most time consuming task. I too aim a flashlight or penlight at a foreground object, so I can get that object and the horizon in simultaneous focus.

Once the plane of focus has been set, you can position your ND grad filter on the horizon line, then wait for the light to progress until the sun is very near the horizon. There should now be enough light to finalize your near and far focus points (I use the technique of measuring the bellows displacement of my near and far points, then set the camera in-between), which should only take a few seconds. You are now ready to stop down and shoot.

I assume you are already using a fast lens (f/4.5 or 5.6).

Oh, and be sure to remember to turn the flashlight off before actually taking pictures! :)

[PViapiano]

Has anyone used a laser pointer device for focusing in dark situations?

My guess is that it would work perfectly...just focus on the beam as it hits your intended object.

[QT Luong]

Instead of pointing a light at a foreground, try putting your light there (when possible) and pointing it at the camera. Works particularly well with the tiny lights.

[GPS]

Even better is to point the light on the ground away from the camera to illuminate something in the immediate vicinity of it on the ground.

[John Powers]

Another possibility is to try two mini lights, near and far, to obtain a range of acceptable focus using plane of focus (via tilt and/or swing) as Eric mentioned . In your scenario this might require floating flashlights on strings. On land two small pen lights on the ground pointing towards you will help focusing predawn or in any low light setting. With some help from my friends I learned this in a rocks and roots thread on APUG.
http://www.apug.org/forums/showthread.php?p=325821&highlight=light#post325821

John

[Ron Marshall]

I haven't tried one, but I have seen one million candle-power portable lights for sale at Home Depot. One could be pointed alternately at the near and far points.

[Lon Overacker]

I just wanted to post back and thank those of you who responded. I think I'll just find a light source a bit bigger than my little pocket maglite. For shots with lakeside/water in the foreground, is there such a thing as a lighted bobber that I could cast out with a fishing pole? :-) Seriously... I appreciate the responses. I think also planning your shot ahead of time and either setting up or planning the shot the night before will be helpful.
Thanks again,
Lon

[Donald Qualls]

For shots with lakeside/water in the foreground, is there such a thing as a lighted bobber that I could cast out with a fishing pole? :-)

Actually, there used to be; if night fishing is permitted anywhere near you, larger sporting goods stores are likely to have them. The ones I've seen were a biggish bobber, used a single AAA cell and tiny incandescent bulb; modern ones might use an N cell and a white LED...

[jstraw]

How about using hyperfocal distance, since that may be more accessible and placing a light right at that point and focusing on it?

[John Bowen]

Has anyone used a laser pointer device for focusing in dark situations?

My guess is that it would work perfectly...just focus on the beam as it hits your intended object.

This is what I use for focusing in dark locations. I picked up this great little tid-pit of information from our moderator Ted Harris @ a Fine Focus Workshop. We were looking at taking photographs in Bruce Barlow's wood shed/garage one rainy day when the power had gone off and Ted came to the rescue when we were having trouble focusing in the very dim light. My next order from B&H incuded a laser light pointer.

John

[David_Senesac]

Surprising to me at least that know one has suggested what I do. It for focussing the whole front standard parallel to the back standard which will at least get all the infinity focus and swing correct. Many dawn or dusk shots don't use a foreground because such is just dark. Instead it might be a longer lens shot from some silhouetted peak or trees at some distance or maybe a normal lens with a water reflection. Lets say there is a silhouette across mid frame. Well I'll focus across midframe and get the swing focused. I use a ball head on my Gitzo. Will then shift the silhouette line to say the frame top and focus there and then shift it to the frame bottom and focus there. Will go back and forth moving the frame until I can get that sharp silhouette skyline in focus in all parts of the frame. Then will adjust the head for the frame I'm interested in and am done. Now if there is something near I need to also get in focus, after getting the front standard parallel I'll back off a bit with some guessed tilt. ...David

[Ken Schroeder]

Take a tip from the old press photographers: Before bed scales were installed in press cameras, it was common to make three knife marks next to the focusing rail "here, there and yonder". Take your camera out to a typical scene on a bright day. Set the focus where you want it. Use white tape or someting similar which will allow you to make two alignment marks. This becomes the focus point. Next, set the tilt. Using a small piece of matboard (a cutout is fine) make a template of the angle between the bed and the tilted standard (either front or rear depending on your taste in tilting). The template becomes your gage block. Just setup the camera, align the focusing marks, set the tilt to the template, and you are ready to go. (Mark and save the template for future use.)
Machinists have used gage block technology for over a hundred years. Gage blocks can be made to incredibly small tolerances, only millionths of an inch. Gaging saves a lot of time in repetitive operations with excellent accuracy and repeatability.