Shoooting with shallow DOF - focus evaluation Q

[Jann Lipka]

When shooting hundreds of images in mixed light I tend to miss a lot when
shooting with shallow DOF ,

I wonder if anyone found a quick way for focus evaluation .

I find this part of selecton process
quite time consuming, because of the need of 100% pixel zoom .
( I'm on a G5 Quad )

My own workflow would be -

step 1
Narrow my choice to " maybe " exposures  in Bidge - label those yellow
Let say I would take 40 of 200

step 2
open all those  ( 40 ) in ACR  ( I would do that even with P45 files, despite I would use C1 for processing  ) , select all and zooom in for 100% , move all selected images so I can see both eyes of the person  ( I need to adjust that during evaluation )

then I use arrows to browse the images and I give green label ( cmd 8 ) for " sharp "
and cmd6 - red for Out of focus .

step3.

when done I click done and continue in BRidge with large thumbnails to
find the finals.

I found the new loupe tool in all cases more slow then opening in ACR plug
and zooming in for " pixel to pixel" .


Anyone with similar experience ?
Any smart software helpers ?

[Graham Mitchell]

In Capture One, you can use the focus check tool on each image and tag the ones you like. It's a very fast process.

[ericstaud]

What camera are you using?  That would help us discuss your options.  Leaf Capture 10 and Aperture have great focus "Loupes" that can be used directly on the thumbnail without even selecting the particular image for the large preview window.  It is the closest approximation to using a loupe on a contact sheet I've seen, and focus editing becomes very fast.  C1 Pro has a fairly fast focus tool, but you must bring the image up in the large preview to see a detail in the smaller focus window.  ACR is very slow for checking focus.  It may be worth opening a seperate program just to check focus and then go back to ACR for the rest of your processing and editing if that is your program of choice.

[paul_jones]

What camera are you using?  That would help us discuss your options.  Leaf Capture 10 and Aperture have great focus "Loupes" that can be used directly on the thumbnail without even selecting the particular image for the large preview window.  It is the closest approximation to using a loupe on a contact sheet I've seen, and focus editing becomes very fast.  C1 Pro has a fairly fast focus tool, but you must bring the image up in the large preview to see a detail in the smaller focus window.  ACR is very slow for checking focus.  It may be worth opening a seperate program just to check focus and then go back to ACR for the rest of your processing and editing if that is your program of choice.
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i was told a trick to have a speed focus check with C1, use the little color peview in the white balance tool, just put the eyedropper where you want to check- its very fast as its a tiny area.

paul

[Jann Lipka]

From what I see color checker square is showing much smaller magnification then 100%
so it is very far from exact  .
 ( See attached screenshot )

Actually I think focus check is OK with C1 ,

Selective process is IMO a bit difficult for example you cannot
undo misstakes like - select several images , forget about your selection and give a
tag ..
All selected images are tagged .

In Bridge that situation means you undo your misstake.
In C1 you canot undo that ( and most other things )

I shoot a lot with Mark 2 also , and would never try to view those in my C1 Pro

[Dustbak]

Did you have a look at the loupe in the Beta version of Adobe Bridge CS3?

[paul_jones]

From what I see color checker square is showing much smaller magnification then 100%
so it is very far from exact  .
 ( See attached screenshot )

Actually I think focus check is OK with C1 ,

Selective process is IMO a bit difficult for example you cannot
undo misstakes like - select several images , forget about your selection and give a
tag ..
All selected images are tagged .

In Bridge that situation means you undo your misstake.
In C1 you canot undo that ( and most other things )

I shoot a lot with Mark 2 also , and would never try to view those in my C1 Pro
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the problem with c1 focus check is that it doesnt keep up with the shooting. it never never gets a chance to un-pixelate. but that little color square keeps up, even though not as detailed as focus check, one of the only ways i know how to check focus while shooting.

paul