Boring day of photography today so went back to one I'd been working on. I'd taken my crystal ball to a field with hay bales, to explore how variation in aperture and resulting DoF contribute to making an interesting image. For hay bales, I thought the most interesting shots had the shallowest DoF. Took it a step further with SnapArt processing.
Alternate that is more in focus and no SnapArt processing: http://365project.org/taffy/the-also-ran-ph/2014-07-28
This one has a very painterly feel to it.....I like it! Interestingly enough, when I first started experimenting with the crystal ball I thought I needed a shallow DOF, and then I was not happy with the results. I have since found that f8 works pretty well since the distance to the actual subject is so much greater than the focus point on the crystal ball that the blur automatically happens. It is really fun to experiment with it for different situations.
I think I prefer the other one, with the ball sharp and the background blurred. It's always good to experiment and something is always taken away from it!
That is the joy of a digital photographer. We can play with the shot and/or the processing. This is really cool. My imagination is running away because I see an eye with an eyebrow and a big nose in the hay ball. Maybe time for more coffee.
Hi! Sorry I've taken so long to reply to your challenge. I was away at the commonwealth games! I love your challenge and have a few for it. Your project is great and I've really enjoyed it. I was wondering if you would like to take an "unusually beautiful" photo?
@mei_photography Glad the challenge works for you. Unusually beautiful?? I'll give it a try! Do you mean as in EOTB? Conventional definition of beauty?
Cool shot and love that you posted what you did. It looks so much like a painting inside the crystal ball. Love your processing. Now to get another camera and play with my crystal ball and f stops too.
