26 Apr 2010

Project: Focus, pt1

Exercise: Focus with a set aperture
2-3 photographs

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The purpose of this exercise was to take 2-3 photos of a scene from an acute angle. The aperture was set at its lowest f-stop and the pictures taken at various distances; the intent was to focus on something different in the scene each time and blur the surrounding features.

I took advantage of a market spice shop, though I was a little rushed for time. I fully intend and trying this exercise again with a different scene.

Spice #1

This first image was taken with a wide angle to capture most of the scene, with the focus on the teller serving a customer. The intent was to draw the eye to the top-centre of the photograph and un-focus the surrounding spice. If I’m honest, I’m not all that keen on this picture because of the angle; the perspective of the scene means that the image subject (the scoop) is small in comparison to its surroundings and it looks very unbalanced. Most of the 'weight' of the photo is un-focused piles of spice.

Spice #2

The second photograph zooms in on the spice and cuts out most of shop in the background. The subject of the photo this time is the central pile which is sharply in-focus with the piles immediately forward and behind slightly blurred and the piles and the fore and backgrounds unfocused even more. This is my favourite of the 3 as the subject is focused and centred on the image so it is very easy to draw the eye of the viewer. Furthermore, with the way this image is framed, the perspective on the surrounding piles gives a very balanced weight to the photo.

Spice #3

The final photograph focuses on the bottom right of the frame at the lens’ longest focal length (55mm). There is not much depth to this image as only 3 piles of spice are fully shown. However, your eye is still draw more centrally to the photo as the label in the foreground is out-of-focus; your eye is not drawn to this part of the image at all, instead focus on the spice directly behind it.
On an interesting note, I’ve noticed that I seem to reduce the depth a lot more significantly on longer focal lengths. I will have to experiment with this and discuss it with my tutor.

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