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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Something to Focus On



If you're anything like me, you know that it's easy to run out of ideas for taking a perfect photo. That's why i picked up The Unforgettable Photograph by George Lange and Scott Mowbray. It's full of unique ideas for taking an amazing photo. 

Recently, I've been focusing on the idea of depth of field.  This is where you focus your shot on the closest subject, and in result the things farther back in the shot are blurred.  Because of this, depth of field shots are only good for certain things since they're meant to capture a specific object in time and not an entire picture of detail. Lange realized this through his work too, "i don't want pictures to be so blatantly about technique. There are times when it works, though"(168). You achieve a Depth of field shot by "first, selecting the widest possible aperture in the AV mode and, second, zooming in" (168). 


When i tried this idea I found that it works best with objects rather than people. When taking pictures of people you want to capture the moment as it is rather than try to pose it (26). This technique gives each photo a sense of professionalism which isn't always needed when taking shots of people. Which in contrast, always works out when taking a picture of any object, even a tree branch or a flower! Have you tried a depth of field shot? Can you prove me wrong? Does Depth of Field work well on people too?


Citation: 
Lange, George. The Unforgettable Photograph. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Company, 2013.

6 comments:

  1. Gorgeous photo of the flowers - I really liked that one.

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  2. Interesting take on the idea of depth versus focus - great explanation.

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  3. Thanks Mrs. Robison! i tried to test out the technique on different settings and objects rather than just use all the pictures i took on the snow day (:

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  4. Thanks Jake, i had never tried it out before so it really was a totally new idea to me!

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  5. I really like your photos! I like using a shallow depth of field to emphasize certain things about a subject, and I think they can be useful for people, too! I would suggest trying to have someone sit behind something, but have a shallow depth of field, which puts the person in the background blurry, and can put emphasis and focus on the object in front.

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  6. that sounds like a good idea! i will have to try that sometime, thanks Brooklyn (:

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