Weekly Photo Contest: 3rd-10th August 2017 - Razor Thin Depth Of Focus

[Janichsan]

Eat - yes/no? Taken at Charles Darwins house today (for once it's from this week!!!)

Depends on if you want to risk to earn a Darwin Award or not.

 

[Foogoofish]

Depends on if you want to risk to earn a Darwin Award or not.

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-18.html

Excellent.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Okay folks, 11.5 hours to go on this one. If you've been holding out on us, now is the time to get your entry in.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Well folks, I'm gonna close this one a little bit early as I wanna watch some TV before heading off to bed for the night.

I'll be back as soon as I can with results.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Thanks all for your entries, I enjoyed the week unfurling as more entries were posted. There's a good range of subject matter and applications of thin depth of focus at work.

Place holder from a recent trip to Duddo Standing Stones. Looking at my pictures, I do seems to like my peekaboo shots.. taken round the edge of a nearer object... not sure it is to anyones taste

L1004302.jpg by Ken OHagan, on Flickr

I love me a good standing stone or two, I do! An interesting idea peeking around the foremost stone to the one in the distance. Two things I would have done differently are to have a little less of the rock on the left and to clone out those grass seed-heads just to the top right of the standing stone that's in focus. I'm not sure what caused the ghosting around the in-focus stone, but it's quite noticeable to me, Ken.

Quite the different portrait from you! A very thin depth of focus here with this interesting sculpture. I would have tried to get slightly higher with this one if at all possible or even stepped to the side to get the out of focus head minimised and not so dominant in the image.

View attachment 711386

Nice vibrant colours and a very thin depth of focus, Susurs. I don't mind the repetition of the plants form in the background. If this was an exercise in selective colour, I would have gone the whole hog and made just the in-focus section the only colour here. I also would have played with doing this one in portrait format and moving so as to avoid the highlights in the background if at all possible.

I already had this picture as POD a while ago, but it fits the topic quite well:

I like the subjects here, the flower with the insect, the ant and what looks like a lady-bug down under the flower. I would have tried to move to the right a tad, so as to allow the flower to have a cleaner and simpler background or have gone to portrait format and included the whole of the out of focus flower that's over on the right. A shot taken from a bit lower would have allowed a head on image of the insect, which is always a crowd pleaser.

Guanyin is an East Asian bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by Mahayana Buddhists. In English, she is commonly known as the "Goddess of Mercy."

View attachment 711529

.

I love the composition, the warm colours and the choice of thin focal plane used here, drawing the attention to the posed hands, whilst still allowing one to recognise the face behind them. Nuff said!

A little variation on the focus.



Penang Morning

A clever use of focal point with it being in the long distance, rather than the foreground. The cup and spoon within it are still recognisable enough to assure the viewer of what they are. Nice cool colours and tones and the square crop has worked well here. the line of ships add some good interest to the mountain range in the back of the image.

Gladiolus stamens, Olympus 60mm macro lens @ f/2.8



Stamens by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Cheers

Hugh

Oh yep! That's some mighty thin depth of focus here, Hugh. I really like the play of light across the stamen and the shadows that they cast upon each other. Personally, I would have placed the stamen down lower in the frame, which could easily be achieved with a crop from the bottom, this would also have the benefit of omitting that highlighted section in the bottom right of the current frame.

Monarch saying "Hello" by US Antigoon, on Flickr

A lovely separation from the background here, Antigoon. There's good detail to the flutterby and the flower. I would have cropped it down about half way from the top and in about half way from the right though. Reducing the saturation of the greens could help make the subjects stand out even more here.

Here is the image full size. Not sure what happened yesterday
View attachment 711642

A lovely bird with good focus, colour and details to it. I would have taken a step to the left or two, so as to omit that branch that drops down across the frame in front of the bird. This could also have removed that snow on the branch directly behind the bird, taking it out of frame. I also would have repositioned the bird within the frame, so it had some more room to its left, where it is peering off to.

Was out in a local park with my fiancee a few months ago and snapped this picture as the sun was setting. Love the way the grass caught the light!



Reeds by Agee Springer, on Flickr

Definitely good separation of the grasses from their background, and I too like the way the light has made them pop. I would have played with different heights of taking this image, lifting the horizon line to the top third of frame or down to the lower third of frame. I also reckon this could work better with a square crop, losing the right hand section of shadowed trees. I feel this would draw the eye even more to the delicate grasses.

Eat - yes/no? Taken at Charles Darwins house today (for once it's from this week!!!)

View attachment 711681

I love mushrooms, we had them for dinner tonight actually! I would be tempted to back off the vibrancy and saturation of the greens here and reckon that a square crop, losing all that white sky could help make the shrooms the focus here. I feel that I may be channeling Mark0 there! I like your choice of focal point being the middle shroom and that you got down nice and low to grab this image.

View attachment 711845

A nice flower image, with good separation from the background and a good choice of depth of focus, allowing all of the flower to be in focus here. Nice colour, details and exposure, considering it's in strong daylight. I do wonder if you could have taken this from a slightly higher position, this would have possibly eliminated the out of focus flower that's directly behind this one.

Falcon

A gorgeous bird indeed! Lovely soft colours under harsh light, with good details to the important bits, the beak and eye. The beak is slightly blown out due to the reflection of the sun there and as a consequence it has lost detail in that section. I would have liked to have seen the talons too, but can understand not getting them in frame if it is perched on a man-made perch. A step or two to the right might have given you that darker background across the entire frame.

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Nice one fella! Loving the shallow depth of focus to this and the B&W finishing. The way you angled the light here has worked a treat, giving the guitar great separation and isolation from the background, making the form of the guitar the star of the show here. I like that you placed the focal point high in the frame here, rather than having it smack bang in the centre as I suspect most people would have done. Good use of negative space.

Many of you saw my macro images throughout the month of May. I picked one of those for this challenge since I've been on the road the past week. I am not entering the competition this week as I will be unavailable during the judging portion, but still wanted to participate anyway.

View attachment 712000

And I for one enjoyed your macro month, where you played with thin depth of focus really well, creating interesting views of common things. I enjoy your square crop to this and the heavy diagonal composition. the focus being thin and at the fore works well. The translucence you captured to the petals is a delight.

View attachment 712192

This young lass has feet for legs and legs for feet! Good separation from the background and I like that little flick of the hair and her genuine smile. I would have gotten a bit to the left, so that there was just the greenery as the background, instead of having the home visible too. This could have worked well as a portrait oriented format image.

This little guy was about 3 mm long. He sat very patiently whilst I set up my tripod.

_DSC1736 by apple fanboy1, on Flickr

I enjoyed this when I first saw it and it still managed to bring a smile to my face seeing it again! A very cute subject, with a really narrow depth of focus. Love the separation from the dreamy background and that you didn't feel compelled to crop in tight on this critter, allowing it to be expressed as a tiny thing in a huge world as a consequence. Cleverly composed to have its colour standout as a contrast to the green everywhere else in the frame. Simplicity, well thought out.

Cicada and Shell by indydenny71, on Flickr

I'm glad you re-joined us for this one. Wonderful colours on the wing of the cicada and I like that you included its exoskeleton in the frame. The thin focus has worked well, it's not too thin that we can't recognise the skin it has shed in the foreground. I would have included a tad more of the lower section and decreased the saturation of the reds quite heavily as it draws the eye away from the cicada. You could have also played with a square crop, having the cicada and its shed skin diagonally across from each other in the frame.

Hopefully that hasn't offended anyone. It's just my opinion after all, and we all see in different ways.

On to the hard part.

Special mentions to @kenoh @mollyc and @E3BK for a job very well done, and my top three for the week are:
3rd - @Apple fanboy
2nd - @MacRy
1st - @deep diver

Looking forward to seeing what deep diver comes up with for us in the next round and thanks again for all the entries.

 

[mollyc]

Yay to the winners! Confetti for everyone!

 

[deep diver]

Wow! Thank you. This is a great birthday present. I am 29 today. Well, only since I discovered the inner workings of Ancestry.com and I have been able to change the date on my birth certificate. I shot this at Chicago 's Field Museum. Mrs. Diver and kid Diver were getting very impatient with me and I had to grab this on the fly.

I will post the new topic later today.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Wow! Thank you. This is a great birthday present. I am 29 today. Well, only since I discovered the inner workings of Ancestry.com and I have been able to change the date on my birth certificate. I shot this at Chicago 's Field Museum. Mrs. Diver and kid Diver were getting very impatient with me and I had to grab this on the fly.

I will post the new topic later today.

Happy Birthday!

 

[Hughmac]

Thanks for the great feedback, and congratulations to the winners
Happy Birthday @deep diver !

Cheers

Hugh

 

[0970373]

Special mentions to @kenoh @mollyc and @E3BK for a job very well done, and my top three for the week are:
3rd - @Apple fanboy
2nd - @MacRy
1st - @deep diver

Looking forward to seeing what deep diver comes up with for us in the next round and thanks again for all the entries.

Thanks so much! It was a great topic. I wish I had time to do new photos though but work has been quite hectic. Excellent choice in winners and looking forward to @deep diver's contest.

 

[Janichsan]

Good choices. These are some worthy winners.

I like the subjects here, the flower with the insect, the ant and what looks like a lady-bug down under the flower. I would have tried to move to the right a tad, so as to allow the flower to have a cleaner and simpler background or have gone to portrait format and included the whole of the out of focus flower that's over on the right. A shot taken from a bit lower would have allowed a head on image of the insect, which is always a crowd pleaser.

Thanks for the feedback. I was a bit limited in the choice of the vantage point, as the flower was on the other side of a guard rail on a fairly steep embankment (and swaying quite a bit in the wind). But you absolutely have a point that portrait format probably would have been a better choice.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Thanks all for your entries, I enjoyed the week unfurling as more entries were posted. There's a good range of subject matter and applications of thin depth of focus at work.
I enjoyed this when I first saw it and it still managed to bring a smile to my face seeing it again! A very cute subject, with a really narrow depth of focus. Love the separation from the dreamy background and that you didn't feel compelled to crop in tight on this critter, allowing it to be expressed as a tiny thing in a huge world as a consequence. Cleverly composed to have its colour standout as a contrast to the green everywhere else in the frame. Simplicity, well thought out.
Special mentions to @kenoh @mollyc and @E3BK for a job very well done, and my top three for the week are:
3rd - @Apple fanboy
2nd - @MacRy
1st - @deep diver

Looking forward to seeing what deep diver comes up with for us in the next round and thanks again for all the entries.

Thanks for the placement! I loved the way his orange colour popped out of the green as well. TBH I was there to shoot a field of crops, so if he had been a green colour I'd not have noticed him!

Also great choice of winner. There were so many good entries this week I didn't envy you!

On to the next!

 

[MacRy]

Great feedback Alex. Thanks for the comments. It was a ukulele rather than a guitar.

Worthy winner from Deep Diver. Onto the next one.

 

[malofx]

 

[Apple fanboy]

View attachment 712430

A little late maybe?

 

[someoldguy]

Congrats to the winners and HM's ... and thanks to @Alexander.Of.Oz for taking the time for the individual commentary . My shot for the week was a placeholder for a masterpiece that I never got out to take . It was taken while looking for other stuff with a 200/2.8 on a 7D2. I share your feelings as regards the out of focus blue behind the flower .

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Great feedback Alex. Thanks for the comments. It was a ukulele rather than a guitar.

Worthy winner from Deep Diver. Onto the next one.

Of course! It's only got four strings! I didn't really notice that until now.

 

[deep diver]

Okay friends.
The new contest is posted at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/weekly-photo-contest-august-10-17-2017-old-school.2061076/

 

[kenoh]

Thanks all for your entries, I enjoyed the week unfurling as more entries were posted. There's a good range of subject matter and applications of thin depth of focus at work.


I love me a good standing stone or two, I do! An interesting idea peeking around the foremost stone to the one in the distance. Two things I would have done differently are to have a little less of the rock on the left and to clone out those grass seed-heads just to the top right of the standing stone that's in focus. I'm not sure what caused the ghosting around the in-focus stone, but it's quite noticeable to me, Ken.


Quite the different portrait from you! A very thin depth of focus here with this interesting sculpture. I would have tried to get slightly higher with this one if at all possible or even stepped to the side to get the out of focus head minimised and not so dominant in the image.


Nice vibrant colours and a very thin depth of focus, Susurs. I don't mind the repetition of the plants form in the background. If this was an exercise in selective colour, I would have gone the whole hog and made just the in-focus section the only colour here. I also would have played with doing this one in portrait format and moving so as to avoid the highlights in the background if at all possible.


I like the subjects here, the flower with the insect, the ant and what looks like a lady-bug down under the flower. I would have tried to move to the right a tad, so as to allow the flower to have a cleaner and simpler background or have gone to portrait format and included the whole of the out of focus flower that's over on the right. A shot taken from a bit lower would have allowed a head on image of the insect, which is always a crowd pleaser.


I love the composition, the warm colours and the choice of thin focal plane used here, drawing the attention to the posed hands, whilst still allowing one to recognise the face behind them. Nuff said!


A clever use of focal point with it being in the long distance, rather than the foreground. The cup and spoon within it are still recognisable enough to assure the viewer of what they are. Nice cool colours and tones and the square crop has worked well here. the line of ships add some good interest to the mountain range in the back of the image.


Oh yep! That's some mighty thin depth of focus here, Hugh. I really like the play of light across the stamen and the shadows that they cast upon each other. Personally, I would have placed the stamen down lower in the frame, which could easily be achieved with a crop from the bottom, this would also have the benefit of omitting that highlighted section in the bottom right of the current frame.


A lovely separation from the background here, Antigoon. There's good detail to the flutterby and the flower. I would have cropped it down about half way from the top and in about half way from the right though. Reducing the saturation of the greens could help make the subjects stand out even more here.


A lovely bird with good focus, colour and details to it. I would have taken a step to the left or two, so as to omit that branch that drops down across the frame in front of the bird. This could also have removed that snow on the branch directly behind the bird, taking it out of frame. I also would have repositioned the bird within the frame, so it had some more room to its left, where it is peering off to.


Definitely good separation of the grasses from their background, and I too like the way the light has made them pop. I would have played with different heights of taking this image, lifting the horizon line to the top third of frame or down to the lower third of frame. I also reckon this could work better with a square crop, losing the right hand section of shadowed trees. I feel this would draw the eye even more to the delicate grasses.


I love mushrooms, we had them for dinner tonight actually! I would be tempted to back off the vibrancy and saturation of the greens here and reckon that a square crop, losing all that white sky could help make the shrooms the focus here. I feel that I may be channeling Mark0 there! I like your choice of focal point being the middle shroom and that you got down nice and low to grab this image.


A nice flower image, with good separation from the background and a good choice of depth of focus, allowing all of the flower to be in focus here. Nice colour, details and exposure, considering it's in strong daylight. I do wonder if you could have taken this from a slightly higher position, this would have possibly eliminated the out of focus flower that's directly behind this one.


A gorgeous bird indeed! Lovely soft colours under harsh light, with good details to the important bits, the beak and eye. The beak is slightly blown out due to the reflection of the sun there and as a consequence it has lost detail in that section. I would have liked to have seen the talons too, but can understand not getting them in frame if it is perched on a man-made perch. A step or two to the right might have given you that darker background across the entire frame.


Nice one fella! Loving the shallow depth of focus to this and the B&W finishing. The way you angled the light here has worked a treat, giving the guitar great separation and isolation from the background, making the form of the guitar the star of the show here. I like that you placed the focal point high in the frame here, rather than having it smack bang in the centre as I suspect most people would have done. Good use of negative space.


And I for one enjoyed your macro month, where you played with thin depth of focus really well, creating interesting views of common things. I enjoy your square crop to this and the heavy diagonal composition. the focus being thin and at the fore works well. The translucence you captured to the petals is a delight.


This young lass has feet for legs and legs for feet! Good separation from the background and I like that little flick of the hair and her genuine smile. I would have gotten a bit to the left, so that there was just the greenery as the background, instead of having the home visible too. This could have worked well as a portrait oriented format image.


I enjoyed this when I first saw it and it still managed to bring a smile to my face seeing it again! A very cute subject, with a really narrow depth of focus. Love the separation from the dreamy background and that you didn't feel compelled to crop in tight on this critter, allowing it to be expressed as a tiny thing in a huge world as a consequence. Cleverly composed to have its colour standout as a contrast to the green everywhere else in the frame. Simplicity, well thought out.


I'm glad you re-joined us for this one. Wonderful colours on the wing of the cicada and I like that you included its exoskeleton in the frame. The thin focus has worked well, it's not too thin that we can't recognise the skin it has shed in the foreground. I would have included a tad more of the lower section and decreased the saturation of the reds quite heavily as it draws the eye away from the cicada. You could have also played with a square crop, having the cicada and its shed skin diagonally across from each other in the frame.

Hopefully that hasn't offended anyone. It's just my opinion after all, and we all see in different ways.

On to the hard part.

Special mentions to @kenoh @mollyc and @E3BK for a job very well done, and my top three for the week are:
3rd - @Apple fanboy
2nd - @MacRy
1st - @deep diver

Looking forward to seeing what deep diver comes up with for us in the next round and thanks again for all the entries.

Thanks for great feedback. The ghosting is due to my club fisted post processing. I am still looking but not seeing when editing I think.

Worthy winners! Well done everyone.
[doublepost=1502435582][/doublepost]

Okay friends.
The new contest is posted at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/weekly-photo-contest-august-10-17-2017-old-school.2061076/

Happy 29th-ish Birthday.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

View attachment 712430

Even though you missed the deadline, it's got good focus on the eyes and nice shallow depth of focus to the face, highlighting all the important parts needed for us discern that it's a face. I'm ambiguous about the peekaboo thing going on, hiding behind the palm like that. I sort of like it as a thin veil, but at the same time find it a bit of a distraction. I will fess up that people photography is not really my thing, so I have a very uneducated eye in that regard.

As the host of these contests can be from anywhere in the world, I always look at what time and date the contest first started to work out when it will close, rather than going by what it says in the thread title and assuming that is for my time zone. That is of course assuming that you have set this site to reflect your time zone.

Looking forward to seeing your entry in this weeks round.

 

[malofx]

Even though you missed the deadline, it's got good focus on the eyes and nice shallow depth of focus to the face, highlighting all the important parts needed for us discern that it's a face. I'm ambiguous about the peekaboo thing going on, hiding behind the palm like that. I sort of like it as a thin veil, but at the same time find it a bit of a distraction. I will fess up that people photography is not really my thing, so I have a very uneducated eye in that regard.

As the host of these contests can be from anywhere in the world, I always look at what time and date the contest first started to work out when it will close, rather than going by what it says in the thread title and assuming that is for my time zone. That is of course assuming that you have set this site to reflect your time zone.

Looking forward to seeing your entry in this weeks round.

Thank you for your feedback, it is always welcomed. For some reason I didn't noticed the contest being over, I'll pay more attention next time.

Great theme.