Here is another from the same property as my last post.
I am working on using selective focus, primarily in my B&W work. In this image, I focused on the doorway and made the rest of the image fade out of focus. I would like to get feedback on how the concept and execution works or doesn't work for you. Feel free to be blunt if you want to critique, I don't take it personally and encourage very direct feedback on my images.
Chamonix 4x5
Voightlander Braunschweig Heliar SF 210mm
Acros
Pyro developer
Harley, selective focus can be very effective, although the modern trends (like lensbaby) just get on my nerves. In this image, I am not seeing enough declining focus towards the rear of the structure. It may be the jpeg-on-a-screen effect and the master file may show it better. I also want to see what's to the right of the doorway.
Not bad at all Harley. But I think like Jeffrey mentions and what you said the other day, even less DOF would be even better. I wonder if in this comp you could have used some swing to exagerate the effect even more? I've been looking for a cheap heliar myself but I think I might have to try to find a petzval or something. Only thing is I would prefer to have an actual shutter.
This was shot at either 5.6 or 4.5, close to or at wide open. This was my first outing with this lens. Looking on the ground glass, I was very surprised at how much of the image stays in focus wide open. I have been looking around at longer lenses, maybe a 300mm, to further lessen the DOF.
Harley, a very respectable shot with your new lens here. Although the outcome was not totally what you might have been looking for, it is still a nice capture. I see the point about slightly more on the right, but clearly that shortens the entire length of the building at the rear. As such I prefer this look over maybe a little more up front to the right.
I like the receeding focus. I would have like to see the infocus door more into the fram and not crammed up on the right side. But from this perspective this would have cut off the receeding wall. Maybe a wider angle lens and a physical shift to the right would have solved both of those. Otherwise, I really like the amount of OOF along the receeding wall.
Posted by Lon Overacker on March 23, 2009 at 2:16 AM
Harley,
I think this was a great setup to try and achieve the narrow dof with the receeding side of the building and the door opening as a central point of focus. I would agree with Jeffrey though and you've mentioned it, that it would work even better if the focus had fallen off even more.
I've played a little with extreme swings and tilts and that certainly would have exagerated things, but with those swings, I'm not sure you could have maintained even focus on the doorway.
Not sure what other elements you had to deal with, but I also think this is a little tight - but then again, had you been able to shallow up the dof, this would have worked nicely. BTW, the tones and b&w processing(developing) are excellent.
Discussion
6 repliesI am working on using selective focus, primarily in my B&W work. In this image, I focused on the doorway and made the rest of the image fade out of focus. I would like to get feedback on how the concept and execution works or doesn't work for you. Feel free to be blunt if you want to critique, I don't take it personally and encourage very direct feedback on my images.
Chamonix 4x5
Voightlander Braunschweig Heliar SF 210mm
Acros
Pyro developer
This was shot at either 5.6 or 4.5, close to or at wide open. This was my first outing with this lens. Looking on the ground glass, I was very surprised at how much of the image stays in focus wide open. I have been looking around at longer lenses, maybe a 300mm, to further lessen the DOF.
I like the receeding focus. I would have like to see the infocus door more into the fram and not crammed up on the right side. But from this perspective this would have cut off the receeding wall. Maybe a wider angle lens and a physical shift to the right would have solved both of those. Otherwise, I really like the amount of OOF along the receeding wall.
I think this was a great setup to try and achieve the narrow dof with the receeding side of the building and the door opening as a central point of focus. I would agree with Jeffrey though and you've mentioned it, that it would work even better if the focus had fallen off even more.
I've played a little with extreme swings and tilts and that certainly would have exagerated things, but with those swings, I'm not sure you could have maintained even focus on the doorway.
Not sure what other elements you had to deal with, but I also think this is a little tight - but then again, had you been able to shallow up the dof, this would have worked nicely. BTW, the tones and b&w processing(developing) are excellent.
Lon