After what seems to have been the wettest November on record the cold weather is set to arrive this week. After banging on recently about autumn being my favourite season for photography, Winter comes a close second.
Winter photography can be extremely rewarding as long as you follow a few simple guidelines to keep your equipment working, and modify your techniques to compliment the change in outdoor conditions. While photography in winter is different than other times of the year, a bit of understanding can make your efforts produce more dramatic and in many ways more memorable photos than the typical summer shots. Here are just a few tips to remember:

1. Carry fresh or freshly charged batteries – Cold climates are rough on batteries. The first thing to do is make sure your batteries are fresh or freshly charged, and if possible, carry spares. Your camera and especially the camera’s batteries will not work as well as in the milder months of the year. Remember that winter photography means dealing with an outdoor environment that’s cold and harsh. If your camera is small, of the point and shoot variety, consider carrying it in an inside pocket if you’re going to be outside for any length of time. If the camera is a larger, SLR type camera, think about carrying the batteries in an inside pocket until needed. For either type of camera, if you’re shooting consistently, rotate spare batteries in and out of your inside pocket to keep them warm.

2. Take advantage of the sun’s lower angle in the winter – Most fine art photographers will tell you that they prefer to shoot either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. There are two reasons for this preference. First, the colors are more “dramatic”. What they mean is that the colors are more toward the yellow end of the spectrum, which is considered “warmer”. Second – and this is the relevance to winter photography – when pictures are shot early and late in the day, the sun is lower, which creates more dramatic shadows. In winter, shadows are more pronounced for longer periods of the day. Even when the sun is higher in the sky and the colors appear to be more normal, the shadow angles will be larger, producing more dramatic effects. Try to make your shots with the sun situated across the subject rather than in front of or behind. This will increase the detail, especially in snow or ice scenes, and will lend depth to the picture.

3. Use fill flash when shooting people – Rather than place the subject in total front or back light, use a fill flash. While ‘cross lighting’ I mentioned above is a great technique for scenes, it’s not particularly flattering for people. Some cross lighting is flattering of course, but using it as the principal light is not the way to get compliments from your subjects. Almost all point and shoot cameras have a small flash built-in, and they’re great for exactly this kind of situation. Instead of the fully automatic camera mode, most of these little digital wonders have a mode that forces the flash to operate. If you use a SLR, put your flash on the camera and use it. The exposure should still be primarily from available light, but use the fill to just remove the harsh shadows caused by the natural cross lighting.

4. Keep your portrait subjects moving – If it’s cold your subjects will not be as patient standing still waiting for their photographs to be taken as they would be be on a nice warm summers day. Either capture them while they’re moving using a fast shutter speed (over 100th of a second) with a large aperture (f5.6 or below), or work out your camera and flash settings before lining them up for their picture. If your subjects are cold and bored no amount of post production in photoshop will make them look any different.

5. Compensate your exposure for snow and ice in a scene - If your camera has the ability to set the exposure, set it to OVEREXPOSE by one stop (which means one “f” stop) when a scene is primarily snow, ice, or otherwise white. Camera exposure meters try to make things 18% grey. This means is that every exposure by a camera’s meter tries to set the scene at what the industry has determined to be the color gray, at a reflectance of 18%. For most normal photography, this works quite well, but for snow and ice – where the scene is predominately white – the scenes tend to be a bit underexposed. The snow looks a little “dirty”. This will allow the camera to make the white features brighter than the usual 18% gray reflectance, and produce more white in the image.

6. In Winter, shoot a scene as soon as you see it - When you discover a shot, don’t try to come back later because there’s a good chance that it will have changed. Shoot it now. Winter scenes are dynamic. What exists now may not be there when you come back later. An overnight ice storm can bring unimaginable beauty in the morning, but be gone and muddy by noon.

7. Don’t unnecessarily stress the wildlife - When you stop along the road to photograph an animal and that animal gives you more than a passing glance, you’re probably too close for comfort. When winter comes the food source for most animals gets more scarce, don’t add more aggravation to what is already a stressful life.

8. Use the rule of two thirds- Try and divide your frame into thirds. If you’re shooting in landscape try and fill the frame with one third sky and two thirds subject rather than half sky and half subject. The same applies when shooting on portrait. Once you’ve mastered that, try and use the vertical thirds across the frame as well as the horizontal.

Home

It’s not long now until Christmas and many people that I talk to at the weekends at my stall on Northcote Road are beginning to use the P word (presents that is). A number of those people are talking specifically about buying a camera for themselves or someone they know.

Here are my 9 top tips:

1. Determine what you need
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the choice and ending up buying cameras that are beyond what you really need. Some questions to ask yourself before you go shopping:
What do you need the camera for?
What type of photography will you be doing? (portraits, landscapes, macro, sports)
What conditions will you be photographing in? (indoors, outdoors, low light, bright light)
Will you mostly stay in auto mode or do you want to learn the art of photography?
What experience level do you have with cameras?
What type of features are you looking for? (long zoom, image stabilization, large LCD display etc)
How important is size and portability to you?
What is your budget?
Ask yourself these questions before you go to buy a camera and you’ll be in a much better position to make a decision when you see what’s on offer. You’ll probably find the sales person asks you these question anyway – so to have thought about it before hand will help them help you get the right digital camera.

2. Megapixels are NOT everything
One of the features that you’ll see used to sell digital cameras is how many megapixels a digital camera has.
In the early days of digital photography the megapixel rating of cameras was actually quite important as most cameras were at the lower end of today’s range and even a 1 megapixel increase was significant.
These days, with most new cameras coming out with at least 5 megapixels, it isn’t so crucial. In fact at the upper end of the range it can actually be a disadvantage to have images that are so large that they take up enormous amounts of space on memory cards and computers.
One of the main questions to ask when it comes to megapixels is ‘Will you be printing shots’? If so – how large will you be going with them? If you’re only printing images at a normal size then anything over 4 or so megapixels will be fine. If you’re going to start blowing your images up you might want to pay the extra money for something at the upper end of what’s on offer.

3. What extras will you get with your purchase?
Keep in mind as you look at cameras that the price quoted may not be the total outlay that you need to make as there are a variety of other extras that you might want (or need) to fork out for including:
Camera Case
Memory Cards
Spare Batteries/Recharger
Lenses (if you are getting a DSLR)
Filters (and other lens attachments)
Tripods/Monopods
External Flashes
Reflectors
Some retailers will bundle such extras with cameras or will at least give a discount when buying more than one item at once. Keep in mind though that what they offer in bundles might not meet you needs. For example it’s common to get a 16 or 32 megabyte memory card with cameras – however these days you’ll probably want something at least 1 gigabyte or even two).

4. Do you already own any compatible gear?
One way to save yourself some cash is if you have accessories from previous digital cameras that are compatible with your new one.
For example memory cards, batteries, lenses (remember that many film camera lenses are actually compatible with digital SLRs from the same manufacturers), flashes, filters etc.

5. DSLR or Point and Shoot?
While digital SLRs are getting more affordable they are not for everyone. Keep in mind that they are usually bigger, heavier, harder to keep clean (if you’re changing lenses) and can be more complicated to operate than point and shoot. Remember ‘grab shots’ are much easier to take with a compact camera that you can whip out of your pocket and take quickly. I take a compact camera on holiday with me as I find I can take much more natural pictures of my children, not to mention that my family also needs a break from “all of Daddy’s camera gear”

6. Optical Zooms are much better quality than Digital zooms.
Not all ‘zooms’ are created equal.
I would highly recommend that you only take into consideration the ‘optical zoom’ when making a decision about which camera to buy. Digital zooms simply enlarge the pixels in your shot which does make your subject look bigger, but it also makes it look more pixelated and your picture ‘noisier’
If you’re looking for a zoom lens make sure it’s an optical zoom (most modern cameras have them of at least 3x in length – ie they’ll make your subject three times as big – with an increasing array of ’super zooms’ at up to 12x Optical Zoom).

7. Read reviews
Before buying a digital camera take the time to do a little research. Don’t JUST rely upon the advice of the helpful sales person (who may or may not know anything about cameras and who may or may not have sales incentives for the camera they are recommending).
Read some reviews in digital camera magazines or online to help you narrow down the field. There are some great websites around that give expert and user reviews on virtually every camera on the market.

8. Hands On Experience
Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a handful of cameras head into your local digital camera shop and ask to see and play with them. There’s nothing like having the camera in your hands to work out whether it suits your needs.
When I shop for a camera I generally use the web to find reviews, then I head into a street in my city with 4 camera shops side by side and I go from shop to shop asking for recommendations and seeing the cameras live in the flash. In doing this I generally find the same camera or two are recommended in most shops and I get to see them demonstrated by different people (this gives a more well rounded demo). I also get to play with it and get a feel for which one I could see myself using.

9. Negotiate
After you’ve selected the right digital camera it’s time to find the best price.
Once again, start online and do some searches to find the most competitive prices on the models you’re interested in. With this information you’re in a good position to be able to negotiate in person with local stores and/or with online stores. Retail stores will negotiate on price and will often throw in freebies. Online stores are more difficult – most bigger ones don’t give you the ability to negotiate but smaller ones often will if you email them.
Don’t forget to ask for free or discounted bonuses including camera cases, memory cards, extra batteries, filters, free prints, cases etc. Some stores will also consider giving you a trade in on older gear.

Home

Autumn is by far my favourite time of the year for taking photographs. One of the things that I noticed most in my first year in the UK after my arrival from New Zealand was the change in seasons. We did (still do) have seasons in Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand, but the South East of England regardless of how awful or good the summer has been always seems to enjoy a period of settled weather around this time of year and you can tell that the autumn colours will be with us soon.

Some of the best outdoor photographs I think I’ve taken of families outdoors have been in the autumn using the colours and leaves as props, and I also think some of my best selling gallery photographs have been taken in various cities in autumn.

So how do you take photographs in autumn? My biggest tip for photography in the autumn is KEEP THE SUN BEHIND YOU.

You can break all the ‘keep the sun behind you’ rules in Spring, Summer and Winter but in autumn the direct light is much softer than it is in summer and worth using to your advantage.

For Portraits and shots of the children playing in the leaves set your DSLR to AV (aperture priority), and set the aperture to the lowest it will go to – maybe 6.4 ,5.6 or 4. The corresponding speed will be quite high and you’ll be able to capture the movement without too much blur.
You could also try this in reverse if the children (and the adults) are throwing leaves at each other. Set your camera to TV (time priority) and set the speed to 60. Take plenty of photographs, I take 50 or 60 images in a burst if there’s lots of action, the law of averages dictates that six or so will be good. take a look at my portraits page for more info.

For Landscape photographs take your time. Most lenses perform best at around f11 so set your camera to AV and the aperture around 11. If you have a tripod use it even if you can take the photograph handheld. I find that using a tripod slows the picture taking process down and I think much more carefully about the composition. If you’re standing with your back to the light the camera’s metering system will be quite accurate although you will need to take a few frames at different exposures just to make sure you get a spot on exposure. Take a look at my photograph galleries for more autumn photographs.

I’ve talked a lot about the settings you should use on SLR cameras. With compact cameras where you can’t make many manual alterations to the camera exposure don’t worry KEEP THE SUN BEHIND YOU.

You’ve got plenty of time, the colours in the last two years according to my records start to look good in mid October, and oak trees don’t start falling until mid December.

Home

Professional studio photographers rarely use direct flash to illuminate a subject, because the results are harsh, unnatural and unattractive. Most SLRS and compact cameras have a built-in flash which blasts light directly at the subject, creating the “rabbit in the headlights” effect.

With the addition of an inexpensive flash unit for bouncing flash, this harshness can be greatly reduced and will give your pictures a professional look. Another solution for cheaper compact cameras is a stick a doubled up piece of tape across the flash which will help diffuse the light, this may be an alternative to buying another piece of electronic equipment and learning to use it.
I take portrait photographs in my stall every weekend (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sunday,) and the flash is bounced off the white ceiling and the white background. It’s so effective that I don’t require the lighting rig I would normally use in the studio.

This technique is something you can easily set up in your own home. They key to bouncing a flash is a reasonably low the ceiling, and to set the flash, if you can, to fire two or three stops above the camera exposure. You can find this setting on the camera (not the flash). The icon on the button will be a plus and minus sign next to a flash symbol. Push the button and ask the flash to overexpose by +2 or +3, the lower the ceiling the less you’ll have to overexpose. Bouncing a flash eats through the batteries due to the higher output required, so make sure you load up with batteries before your sessions.

Try and use your flash with your outdoor portrait photography. This is known as ‘fill in flash’ and is particularly useful when the subject has their back to the sun, or for example under some trees on a sunny day. On a compact camera just turn the flash on, on a SLR you have more control. Push the flash button again on your camera and ask the flash to underexpose slightly (-1, -1.5), by underexposing slightly the lighting will be more subtle and less “rabbit” (in the headlights).

At night most cameras on auto setting with default to flash. You have very little control on a compact camera but on an SLR you can manage how bright the background is relative to the subject. If the light is low set your camera to AV, and set the aperture to the lowest number it will go to, 4.0, 5.0, 5.6 . Then without any over or under exposure set the flash to fire direct at the subject. You’ll have to keep the camera steady as the shutter speed may drop to below 60 (60th of a second) If it’s too dark and there’s a risk of camera shake change the mode to program or P and see how low you can set that aperture.

Please do bring your camera and flash to me at Northcote Road in the weekend and I’ll give you a free 10 minute lesson.

Home

I get a lot of questions about how to take great photographs of sunsets. The truth is, it’s easy. The hard part is finding a great sunset and being ready at the right time. If you follow the following tips you’ll be ready when you find the perfect sunset.
The sun sets every day, but to get a perfect sunset picture you need the right conditions of dust and clouds.
The dusky-red of the setting sun is the result of dust in the air. Wind blows lots of dust from the ground up into the air, and smoke and industrial pollution provide dust too (it’s one of the few benefits of air pollution). So do forest fires. The biggest contributor of all is volcanic eruptions. There’s nothing like a volcano to launch a huge payload of dust and smoke into the upper atmosphere from which it circles the globe. In recent years, beautiful sunsets have been credited to the eruption of Mount St.Helens in Washington, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, and most recently, Mt. Etna in Italy.
Clouds help too. Whether it is thick clouds that obscure portions of the sky or wispy clouds that take on colors of their own, the most dramatic sunset pictures almost always include clouds. The main reason we associate beaches with sunsets is that they give us an unobstructed view of the setting sun on the horizon. No mountains in the way. No buildings. No city lights. Just a flat horizon and the setting sun. Plus a smooth expanse of water to reflect the colors!
Also, if you’re hanging around on the beach, you’re probably relaxed and in the mood to enjoy a great sunset. You have time to watch the sun go down and savor the changes that take place over time.

What exposure should I use? The answer is that there are a range of correct exposures. If you use your camera’s built-in meter, you will usually be way off because the sky is still relatively bright, and the meter will underexpose the image. If you have a separate light meter, your best approach is to try to meter the ambient level of light. To do this either take an incident-light reading, or take a gray-card reading. Either approach will usually give a proper exposure. However, to be on the safe side, we suggest you take a number of bracketed shots.
Bracketing is a technique used by professional photographers to get the best exposure. To bracket, if your meter tells you to expose the scene at 1/60 of a second at f/8, then make the photograph and then take another frame at 1/60th at f/5.6 (one stop more exposure)and another at 1/60th at f/11 (one stop less exposure). This way, you have taken frames with more and less exposure than that which the meter indicates. You may find that a slightly lighter or darker version of the scene may give a more pleasing overall exposure.
What if you don’t have a separate meter or a way to control your camera’s aperture and shutter speed? As long as your camera has auto-exposure lock, you can still bracket…only you’ll do so by “fooling” the camera. Here’s how… First, point your camera at the sunset and take the indicated exposure. Second, point your camera at the ground where it’s darker, lock the exposure, recompose on the sunset, and take another exposure. Third, point the camera at the sky, lock the exposure, recompose on the sunset, and take another photograph. You should now have three different exposure settings for the sunset!
There’s another aspect of exposure for a sunset — timing. Sunsets aren’t static. They happen over time. When you prepare to take those sunset pictures, plan to spend at least half an hour, so you can photograph the scene every five minutes or so. Clouds move, colors deepen and change, and the image you record a little later as the sunset unfolds may have more drama and richer colors than you saw fifteen minutes before. Take lots of pictures, and choose the best of them later when you see the results.

What about composition?
Even the most spectacular sunset will look like abstract wallpaper if you don’t provide some context. Silhouetted trees or other objects in the foreground give a sense of scale and location to the scene. A great sunset will have a different feeling if it’s taken at the beach with a few palm trees in the foreground.
Of course, dramatic sunsets, despite what I’ve said about beaches and islands, can be seen in other places too. Wherever, see if you can place an interesting object in the foreground What about mountains? They make wonderful images, but they often present a problem when it comes to sunsets. If the mountain is tall, the sun will set behind it while still glowing a bright yellow. The mountain may rise too far above the dust-laden horizon for you to see the deep red hue of the setting sun.

What focal length should you use for a great sunset? The longer the lens, the larger the sun will appear in the picture. The surprising fact is that the sun in reality is only one-half a degree in diameter. What this means is that, if you shoot with a “normal” lens — say a 50mm — the sun will be less than 1/80th the width of the frame! You want the red globe of the sun to be a lot more significant than this. To achieve this, use a very long lens — 200mm is the minimum…400mm or longer is even better. One point, however: With such long lenses, be sure to support the camera on a tripod, monopod, or convenient flat surface since the exposure will be relatively long and you want to prevent camera shake.

WARNING: It is dangerous to your eyes to look directly at the shining yellow sun. Don’t look directly at it until it is low enough in the sky to have turned red. If you’re using a long lens, this is especially important. The lens is like a telescope. It magnifies the intensity of the sunlight. Don’t look at the sun through the lens until the flaming yellow glow has turned a dark red.
If you use film, what should you use for sunset photos? Almost any film will do. Some pros want the “grainless” look of Kodachrome. Others will use their regular ISO 800 film, and see no difference. My recommendation: ISO 200 or 400 will be fine. These ISO are good settings for use with a digital camera as well.

White Balance
White balance refers to the correctness of color in a photographic scene. The white balance feature in most digital cameras ensures that color appears correct regardless of the lighting conditions. Theoretically, if the white balance is correct, then all of the colors in the scene are correct too.
The first and perhaps easiest method is to shoot RAW files in the “Auto” white balance mode. The camera will automatically select the white balance for you, and allow you to focus your efforts on composing a great image. However, you will most certainly need to correct the white balance later in the digital darkroom during the RAW conversion process. For sunsets, you will likely find that the “cloudy” or “shady” presets will more closely resemble the actual look of the scene. While this is a useful method, I believe in getting it right in the camera the first time.

Sun Can Damage CCDs
It’s never a good idea to point a digital camera directly at any intensely bright light-source. Direct exposure to the sun while it is high in the sky can damage the delicate image sensor found in most digital cameras, the CCD. Fortunately as the sun approaches the sunset its intensity will diminish greatly. That’s primarily because the light rays become scattered as they pass through atmospheric haze and pollutants that surrounds the earth. The closer the sun gets to the horizon, the safer it will be to point a digital camera at it. Never stare at the sun. You will cause damage to your eyes.

Auto-Focus
Very bright objects in the center of the frame can confuse the Auto-Focus feature found on most digital cameras. You can avoid the problem altogether by switching to Landscape mode. Landscape mode sets the camera lens to Infinity ensuring sharply focused sunsets.

Turn around!
Many times we get so caught up in photographing the sunset itself that we forget about the beautiful light that is being produced by this modified light source. Turn around and take notice of the golden light a sunset provides.

Golden Light
Don’t stop shooting after the sun has dropped below the horizon. The light levels may be low but the quality of the light is pure beauty. Try shooting a portrait in this light and you’ll be amazed at the rich golden tones you’ll get.
Why is the quality of light so special? With the sun below the horizon, the sky essentially becomes a huge soft box, spreading reflected light through the atmosphere without the harshness and shadows of a point source such as the direct light of the sun.
The bottom line is digital cameras will perform better under soft reflected light conditions. Take advantage of this golden light, it doesn’t last long.

Use a Tripod
Because of low light levels, shooting sunsets may require long exposure times, so you’ll need a tripod. Exposure times of one or two seconds are common when shooting sunsets. Many digital cameras have replaced the cable release with a remote control. If your camera has one, bring it. This will reduce the possibility of camera shake during exposure times.

Include Foreground elements
Consider including foreground elements such as an interesting a tree or house into your scene. Just because you are shooting a sunset doesn’t mean you only have to include the sun. Because of the direction of the light, foreground elements will almost ertainly be reproduced as silhouette, which can help to build visual drama in a sunset image.

I hope you find this useful and you are able to apply some of this to get great sunset pictures. As I said at the head of this article, the problem is to get to a place that has great sunsets. The rest is easy!

Home

Direct eye contact can be as engaging in a picture as it is in real life. When taking a picture of someone, hold the camera at the person’s eye level to unleash the power of those magnetic gazes and mesmerizing smiles. For children, that means stooping to their level. And your subject need not always stare at the camera. All by itself that eye level angle will create a personal and inviting feeling that pulls you into the picture.

My Top 10 Photography tips for holiday snaps

1. Look Your Subject in the eye

Direct eye contact can be as engaging in a picture as it is in real life. When taking a picture of someone, hold the camera at the person’s eye level to unleash the power of those magnetic gazes and mesmerizing smiles. For children, that means stooping to their level. And your subject need not always stare at the camera. All by itself that eye level angle will create a personal and inviting feeling that pulls you into the picture.

2. Use a Plain Background

A plain background shows off the subject you are photographing. When you look through the camera viewfinder, force yourself to study the area surrounding your subject. Make sure no poles grow from the head of your favorite niece and that no cars seem to dangle from her ears.

3. Use Flash Outdoors

Bright sun can create unattractive deep facial shadows. Eliminate the shadows by using your flash to lighten the face. When taking people pictures on sunny days, turn your flash on. You may have a choice of fill-flash mode or full-flash mode. If the person is within five feet, use the fill-flash mode; beyond five feet, the full-power mode may be required. With a digital camera, use the picture display panel to review the results.

The flash will brighten up people’s faces and make them stand out. Also take a picture without the flash, because the soft light of overcast days sometimes gives quite pleasing results by itself.

4. Move in Close

If your subject is smaller than a car, take a step or two closer before taking the picture and zoom in on your subject. Your goal is to fill the picture area with the subject you are photographing. Up close you can reveal telling details, like a sprinkle of freckles or an arched eyebrow.

But don’t get too close or your pictures will be blurry. The closest focusing distance for most cameras is about three feet, or about one step away from your camera. If you get closer than the closest focusing distance of your camera (see your manual to be sure), your pictures will be blurry.

5. Move it from the middle

It’s tempting to place your subject in the middle of the frame. However, the middle of your picture is not the best place for your subject. Bring your picture to life by simply moving your subject away from the middle of your picture. Start by dividing the frame into 9 equal rectangles. Now place your important subject at one of the intersections of lines.

You’ll need to lock the focus if you have an auto-focus camera because most of them focus on whatever is in the center of the viewfinder.

6. Take Some Vertical pictures

Is your camera vertically challenged? It is if you never turn it sideways to take a vertical picture. All sorts of things look better in a vertical picture. From a lighthouse near a cliff to the Eiffel Tower to your four-year-old niece jumping in a puddle. So next time out, make a conscious effort to turn your camera sideways and take some vertical pictures.

7. Be a Picture Director

Take control of your picture-taking and watch your pictures dramatically improve. Become a picture director, not just a passive picture-taker. A picture director takes charge. A picture director picks the location: “Everybody go outside to the backyard.” A picture director adds props: “Girls, put on your pink sunglasses.” A picture director arranges people: “Now move in close, and lean toward the camera.”

Most pictures won’t be that involved, but you get the idea: Take charge of your pictures

8. Take Candid Pictures

Ignore the impulse to force your subjects to always pose staring at the camera. Variety is important. Take candid pictures to show them working, playing, chatting, or relaxing.

9. Include Objects in the Foreground

When taking pictures of landscapes, include an object, such as a tree or boulder, in the foreground. Elements in the foreground add a sense of depth to the picture. A person in the foreground helps establish a sense of scale.

Sometimes you can use the foreground elements to “frame” your subject. Overhanging tree branches, a doorway, or an arch can give a picture the depth it needs to make it more than just another snapshot.

10. Lock the Focus

If your subject is not in the centre of the picture, you need to lock the focus to create a sharp picture. Most auto-focus cameras focus on whatever is in the centre of the picture. But to improve pictures, you will often want to move the subject away from the centre of the picture. If you don’t want a blurred picture, you’ll need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle and then recompose the picture so the subject is away from the middle.

Usually you can lock the focus in three steps. First, center the subject and press and hold the shutter button halfway down. Second, reposition your camera (while still holding the shutter button) so the subject is away from the center. And third, finish by pressing the shutter button all the way down to take the picture.

Home