Introduction - A way of seeing - 2

Project: Focus

Exercise: Focus with a set aperture

The following photographs were taken with a 50mm lens, at an aperture of 2.0. I think they are not meant to be wright or wrong, from the technical point of view, but to show the difference between images of the same place, having different areas in focus. It's nice too see how the eye is drawn to the area that is in sharp focus (it's the healthy thing to do I suppose...; if I try to look for too long to the area that is out of focus, my eyes get tired and feel uncomfortable).

In the first photo the focus is on the trees that are further away in the view, almost reaching the gazebo.

In the second photo the focus is on the front lower side (not the extreme low, which is out of focus), targeting the fallen branch, nuts, leaves, and the grass carpet around these elements.

I think the first photo is nice, but pretty common. I like the second one more because it brings out details that people usually overlook. In a scene like this we normally look at the bigger picture (the trees, the gazebo, the people around - exactly the things that are in focus in the first photo). By focusing on the nuts, the leaves, the grass, I think the second photo is more powerful but delicate at the same time.

Another example - though not exactly following the course instructions (meaning it's not an image with depth, because it's actually a very close shot) is the photograph of a dragonfly. Why am I displaying it here? Because something struck me, when I focused just 10cm behind the main subject (which for a close shot is a lot). The thing is the dragonfly practically disappeared, it became invisible (second photo bellow). Many other subjects/objects just become very blurred, but they don't disappear completely, when they're out of focus. In this case though, the dragonfly's wings being so transparent, they practically turned invisible. And it's body is just a trace of orange. I guarantee it's in the same place, as it is in the first photo.

Dragonfly

"Invisible" dragonfly

In this case, obviously I like the first photo, where the dragonfly is visible and beautiful :)