1000/477: 12 June 2011: Focus - who needs it?

1000/477: 12 June 2011: Focus - who needs it?, a photo by nmonckton on Flickr.

Something a bit more experimental today. I've paid a goodly sum for nice sharp lenses, but to hell with that, let's go for some creative blur. It's not a new technique - an old colleague of mine who I found on Flickr (daruma) has a set of photos dedicated to the idea, and there is a Flickr group for photos with no point in focus.

The idea is that the out-of-focus picture should stimulate a reaction in its own right, because the subject is to all intents and purposes blurred beyond recognition.

Not sure that this first shot meets these high ideals - I was trying to capture the impression of a mass of flowers, rather than concentrating on individual blooms - but I hope it's a decent start. I've added a similar shot with rather more subtle colouring below.

For those that want to know I simply set my lens manually to its closest focussing distance and then used maximum aperture to get as little depth of field as possible.