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welder β Spellbound
Published: 2005-05-24 14:36:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 2551; Favourites: 86; Downloads: 748
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Description
From a series of photos I did in the Carson City foothills.I sometimes get people asking me why I won't take the aperture to f/22 and get the full depth of field so that everything is sharp. The short answer is because I don't want to.
But for those who want to know the reasoning... ...In the quest for sharpness, I think it's possible to sometimes forget that blur is a valuable compositional tool. I'm not interested in getting the look of a "traditional" landscape. I wanted to get an intimate focus on a small subject, and then a background consisting of representative shapes. I wanted to have it so that the photo goes off an impression of what the landscape is rather than its details.
Anyways, I don't want to ramble on too much about photo philosophy here, so I'll leave it at that. Thanks for having a look
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Comments: 71
wow.. beautiful.. f22 it's not needed here.. your way to see the world is mindblowing
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mmmm the clarity....the colors...the foliage...
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amen!
...god bless DoF & the power of suggestion!
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i too love this piece....
it's incredibly beautiful
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SUPERB this is an amazing piece.... BEAUTIFUL
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great mood...I love pieces like this. Usually they mean more to the photography than the viewer, but there's something about ones similiar to this one that just draw me into the picture.....not to mention it just inspired me to create something
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wow that ap setting is so amazing!! i've never seen anything this simple yet so beautiful. you really have a great eye!!
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The first thing that popped into my head was the phrase "of all things great and small". The choice of depth of field is a good one for it directly draws you to an object of interest that would largely go unnoticed in the grand scheme of the scene. If the mountains in the background were in sharp focus it would distract us from looking upon the beauty found in this small gnarled tree. This dead gnarled tree has an interesting shape. The pose of it's trunk makes me think upon a little dust devil. And this little swirling vortex that is devoid of life is surrounded by the life on the hillside - the greenery and the wildflowers.
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I really like your depth of focus choices... I think there is a real power in a small depth of field... it really gives direction and clarity / simplicity to the subject. You use it well and that skill comes through in your images. Beautiful shot.
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i must say that i prefer this kind a photo..instead of that classical landscape...
i like the soft focus in it ...
such a simple photo...
very well done!
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hu!! some people eh!!!
Well i think its a very nice shot, and i know that you found a nice thing and wanted to represent it as the thing that it is 
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a beautiful shot. it looks so surreal. i feel so relaxed looking at it.
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Your compositions are utterly fabulous. It's an inspiration to see so much incredible photography so consistently.
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The soft focus is gorgeous. It really makes this shot stand out to me. The DOF works so well for me too.
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wonderful shot and great explaination. Sometimes f22 is justified but in this case I think you did a very very good job choosing "the big hole". It really gives it a mistic feeling!
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I think the short DOF works perfectly in this... I love the that the focus is concentrated on the twisted tree.
The colors are beautiful and soft, excellently done.
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The short dof really works in this one 
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stunning piece...yeah, i agree with your words here!
awesome pic!interesting colors and very interesting main subject here!!!
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This is utterly gorgeous. Simply put, I love you for sticking to tradition yet doing something so very different.
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fantastic how the tree curls up out of its surroundings. it's really a bliss for the eye and kindof poΓ«tic almost...
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Very cool... Reminds me a bit of Fern Gully.
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for me the same...really lovely dof here!!!!
great perspektive too!
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nie wiem co za 'glupki' (
a wracajac do zdjecia - jest po prostu przepiekne!
i przepraszam, ze po polsku, ale nie potrafilbym tego napisac po angielsku.
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Rozumiem...moze nie tak szybko czytam, ale rozumiem
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No need to defend your doing things the way you like! It is a very different image than one would get with the iris stopped way down. That said, I'm not thrilled about the bokeh your lens seems to give in a few places in the middle right. Besides that gripe, I really love this. In my personal view, I'm much more into someone who can find a unique way of looking at a twisted piece of wood in the context of its surroundings than just the everyday shot of the surroundings.
Nice work.
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Quite right too.
Love the shot.
Love the blurrrrr.
Hope you enjoyed the walk too!!
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nice, that stick looks like a butler greeting me
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I like your explaination.... I think that the blur of the mountains behind give more focus to the small detail in the front. I guess there lies the meaning of the image. A small plant seems to be more powerful than a chain of steep and windy mountains: that's so romantic! If the background would have been clearer it would have crushed away the little tree.
Bye!
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GREAT COMPOSITION....the colors are subtle and it leaves u wid a happy happy feeling!
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This is really an exceptionally beautiful photograph. the ODF you've used here is probably the best possible example of what you've written about why u don't go for full clarity -the out of focus background brings so much boldness and power to the tree/stick thing in the foreground that background would take away from, it's merely context, no detail necessary.
Superb image, I love it very very much.
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I like the blurred Sierras in the background, and the flowers in the foreground. Nice job
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Excellent shot, and the philosophy makes the picture that much more surreal and inspiring.
Most definately a +fav
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Gorgeous tones, great contrast between the knarled wood and soft background
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That you share such 'photo-philosophy' is critical for me because I dont know all theese things, and you are my teacher, even if you dont want to be
My father would love this.. I have to show it to him asap. thank you for sharing.
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so beautiful 
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