Camera Club: Out Of Focus
Posted under Camera Club
Sorry, this one is for the Big Camera people only…point & shooters feel free to gnash teeth in my general direction at this point.
Here’s a fun technique to try: out of focus. This comes very naturally to me since I have about a million not ‘quite’ in focus shots knocking around. But actually I’m talking about making your whole shot out of focus, as above. Kind of cool huh? I’ve not tried it before, and wasn’t planning on trying it either. But this shot presented itself and I crouched down to get a snap…it was lovely, hazy late afternoon sunshine and I thought the shoppers and long shadows might be interesting. Alas the megaboys both climbed on my back as I was trying to shoot, and thus I was shaking and wobbling all over the place. So, necessity being the mother of invention and all that, I decided to give the Out Of Focus technique a go.
So…you flick the switch on your lens to switch it to manual focus (rather than automatic focus) and then ‘unfocus’ the composition until it looks cool. Et voila!
I think the key is probably a strong composition, with a clear subject…and not going overboard on the out of focus, but then doing it enough so it’s clear that it’s ‘art’ and not just a crap photo.
Have fun!
Quick Tip: and this one is for everyone….go crazy, try shooting diagonally for a slightly skewed perspective. I really like doing this with portraits too.
All winners, Spud! How do you get the sun ray thing going on that last photo? Did you discover the diagonal shots when megaboys were pulling on your arm? Tee Hee!
I was known as the queen of crooked shots at work. They work really well in print. I should start doing some again.
And how fun with the out of focus shot. Definitely trying that out.
The point and shooters (mostly) can join in on this, too. To get the purposely out of focus image, set the camera to the Macro setting, half push the button down while focusing on something very close and then aim at the shot and push the button the rest of the way. You can choose how in focus the image is by how close of an object you aim at to start with, though you may have to try a few different distances and several shots to get it the way you’d like.
Very cool image, even if you do have me gnashing my teeth. I also love the tilted image. I do that a lot. Mine don’t seem to turn out like yours do, though. Must be the camera. Yeah, that’s it.
concerning your last post i had to check my dictionary first to see what prod means. now i know it and you really must feel like being stabbed – or out of focus somehow. all the best! eliane
It makes my eyes a bit hurty but I like it.
I’m pleased to see that Camera Club has returned – tis a Good Sign, I think? xx
ps – if it has returned for good I’d like to request a session on composition and cropping. You’re very good at close cropping and knowing what to leave out. I am not. A couple of ‘pre cropping’ and ‘post cropping’ shot to compare would be good (eg Lauren Child pressies par example) Is that a worthy seesion or am I talking rubbish?
Amazingly, my P&S does a wonderful job taking out of focus shots! Go figure…especially when I try the macro feature…Ha! You might have noticed…Anyway, love the iris/sun/tilty shot…I have a row of purple Iris I’m going to try that with next spring…love the tilty stripes too…have a hamock that will work well for this…thanks for the inspiration! Mwaah!