1955photo

Beware of condensation when bringing your gear inside. Keep a big trash bag in s cold spot and put your gear inside it before entering a heated space. That way the condensation will be on the bag not your gear.

I almost never use manual focus. My Nikon gear is better than my eyes even with good glasses.

Quite often I shoot in single point focus mode and move the point where I want it.

I rarely miss focus.

You don't want your backdrop to be obtrusive. Consider using a deeper cream than you might otherwise. Or POSSIBLY a very pale purple. This could be tricky. Take a flower with you to look.

ETA deep green like foliage might work. Or even gold.