![]() ![]() The look was often used in glamour photography, with its glow and soft focus. I specialize in creating nature images of healing, hope. This is a branch of photography that harks back to the golden age of film, and 1950s Hollywood productions. Finally, this is an exercise in creativity. My name is Beth Young and I am a Sacramento, California-based landscape photographer passionate about capturing uplifting images of nature that endeavor to communicate the therapeutic effects of photography, both for the photographer and the viewer. On the cameras that have auto focus stacking built in it is usually possible to have the camera combine the images into a final single image.A complimentary tonal palate and strong contrasting colors can add strength to the shot, so keep an eye out for both.The LCD screen is not a good indicator for how a shot will ultimately look. Use your eyes to determine the level of focus.Keep in mind that when people are in the photograph, a significant change in focus can elongate heads, necks and limbs to a point where people become alien-like.Your aperture, shutter speed and ISO should be set prior to playing with the focus. Your camera settings will be the same whether the shot is in focus or out of focus. ![]() If you decide to give this a try, and I hope you do, here are a few things I have discovered whilst playing with my out of focus shots: Additionally, while the photographer will see the reality behind the image, if the photograph is overly abstract the viewer can easily become lost in the shapes and colors and miss the viewpoint of what the photographer intended to convey. It’s a balancing act – too out of focus and the point of view is lost to the viewer yet too sharp and the blur starts to look unintentional and is simply distracting. Then simply turn the focus ring on your lens to make the picture clear everywhere, using a small aperture or only part of it, if you have chosen a shallow depth of field (large aperture). My hope is that by playing with the focus I can add a level of interest or mystery to a shot that may have been relatively uninspiring if taken in sharp focus. First of all, select on your camera and on your lens, the M or MF (manual focus) symbol. In fact, the underlying narrative may become even more important to the viewer. Just because it is out of focus, does not mean that these fundamentals go away. As with all photography, I believe these images still require a point of view or a story to be told through the image. But whenever I am in a creative rut, I switch my camera to manual focus and play with taking shots out of focus! Does it always give me beautiful, creative shots? Most of the time no, but it is has been a great technique in helping train my eye to see in different ways. We spend so long striving for shots that have tack sharp focus – it is one of the cornerstones in our quest for a perfect photograph.
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