I really do like the mood these shots render. Like buddingphotographer, I like the second one better, but I can see something artistic about to happen in the first shot.
Right now, in the first shot, the subject appears to be the horse and plow because of their relative size and prominent position in the image. Because they are out of focus, it does sort of look like a mistake. However, if you had been able to get up very close to the foreground foliage and included more of it until it had become a very prominent part of the image, then it would make sense that the plans were the main subject and thus should be in focus.
To do this, you would have to find an attractive shape or stand-alone plant to anchor the eye and help the viewers understand that your main subject is the garden, not the plow. I tried to do this in a cabbage patch in Alaska. I was trying to give the idea that Alaska isn’t all mountains; the valleys can be quite fertile. So, I was trying to show a garden with mountains in the background. 3387 had really cool mountains in the background, but there was nothing to grab the eye in the foreground other than color. Plus the mountains didn’t offer much exciting texture. So I walked to the other side of the patch in search for more interesting cabbage heads. 3416 has a cool foreground anchor, but the mountains in the background are not as impressive. I like the light-angle better, but I don’t think I worked the scene long enough to really get what I was looking for. Yes, the foreground is better, and I have a nice background, but I don’t feel I really followed up on composing it all properly. Bummer.
But I think it gives you the idea: if you’re going for the artistic look with an integral-to-the-mood element blurred out in the background, try and find something in the foreground that could work as an anchor and subject.
A word on the second image: love it. Wish I could see a little more above the heads of the horses and the rest of the blurred out chicken in the foreground. Excellent shot though.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
