I woke this morning to weather forecasts calling for rain, so I packed up my truck and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Bad weather generally means interesting photography opportunities, and the park is only an hour from my house. When I arrived it was overcast, and obvious it would rain soon. But the overcast conditions were great for waterfall shooting, so I went to a small waterfall in the park.
The challenge I have with photographing along creeks and waterfalls is I always want my camera to be in the middle of the stream. Sometimes I can actually wade out and set up the image, but other times I am stuck on a boulder with my camera set up two feet away in the stream. But with Live View touch and shoot mode, I don’t need to look through the viewfinder to get the shot. I can compose in Live View mode, and then just touch the screen where I want my focus to be. If I am concerned about getting maximum depth of field, I might just touch a bunch of different spots to move the focus point in each shot, and ‘bracket’ my depth of field. All without ever looking through the viewfinder. This morning I found myself shooting this way more than looking through the viewfinder; I just couldn’t stretch out over the water to look into my camera.
If you are a Nikon user, the Z6 and Z7 have this mode, as does the D850. There are three modes…off, touch to focus and touch to focus and shoot. Other camera systems have this capability too. Technology is changing the way we photograph in the field. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of live view shooting…but in this situation it allowed me to get a shot I wouldn’t have taken otherwise. Stay current with camera technology, and embrace techniques that will help you do what you really want to do….create a beautiful photograph.