If your camera will let you override its autofocus capability, you can add a second subject like a willing friend or family member to the tripod exercise above to get practice with manual focusing. Just set up your scene so that one subject is at least 4-5 feet closer than the other, keeping your lens at a medium telephoto setting. That way, when you pan or tilt between subjects, you'll also need to turn the lens focus ring during the move to shift the focal plane.
For another advanced variation, turn the iris control to manual if your camera has that feature. Use the same setup as for the focus exercise above, but make sure that one of your subjects is significantly brighter than the other. One real-world example where this might come in handy is when you have an indoor subject standing in front of a bright window in a backlighting situation. As you change the exposure from shooting outside the window to shooting your subject inside, you'll need to adjust your iris control with one hand as you move the tripod with the o…
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