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Can out of focus photos work?
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May 3, 2019 20:42:59   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
As Impresionism and its usual lack of details was being discussed, I began to wonder about out of focus photos. So, here are some of mine. All have been post processed to bring out an idea.

I hope our discussion will be open-ended--Comments about focus, playing around with mine, showing your own out of focus shots...whatever.


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May 3, 2019 20:57:30   #
rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona
 
They can, but audience acceptance is another issue.
--Bob
artBob wrote:
As Impresionism and its usual lack of details was being discussed, I began to wonder about out of focus photos. So, here are some of mine. All have been post processed to bring out an idea.

I hope our discussion will be open-ended--Comments about focus, playing around with mine, showing your own out of focus shots...whatever.

Reply
May 3, 2019 21:20:52   #
kenievans Loc: Dallas
 
I really like the second one. To me it's more about form and shape instead of a blurry woman. Being deliberately out of focus to say something would be interesting to explore but I am still struggling to get my shots in focus.

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May 3, 2019 21:49:35   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
artBob wrote:
As Impresionism and its usual lack of details was being discussed, I began to wonder about out of focus photos. So, here are some of mine. All have been post processed to bring out an idea.

I hope our discussion will be open-ended--Comments about focus, playing around with mine, showing your own out of focus shots...whatever.


That is motion blur, isn't it?

Mike

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May 3, 2019 21:57:14   #
Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona
 
rmalarz wrote:
They can, but audience acceptance is another issue.
--Bob


I agree totally. We can make a lot of changes in PP that are acceptable even softening focus. But do it in the camera becomes an 'oops' or even a 'major whoopsie'.

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May 3, 2019 21:59:13   #
rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona
 
I was always taught to start with a "perfect" negative. What you do during the printing process can be wildly different. Start with a "messed up" negative and you're stuck with that forever.
--Bob
Curmudgeon wrote:
I agree totally. We can make a lot of changes in PP that are acceptable even softening focus. But do it in the camera becomes an 'oops' or even a 'major whoopsie'.

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May 4, 2019 00:52:38   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
Blenheim Orange wrote:
That is motion blur, isn't it?

Mike


Two of them are.

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May 4, 2019 00:59:16   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
rmalarz wrote:
They can, but audience acceptance is another issue.
--Bob

True, which is why you'd want to pick your audience. These would not be aimed to please the local camera club, but more a fine art audience.

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May 4, 2019 07:30:30   #
Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida
 
Normally it is good to delete out of focus shots before someone sees them.

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May 4, 2019 07:39:22   #
edwdickinson Loc: Ardmore PA
 
Then you should have no problem producing out of focus images.

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May 4, 2019 08:35:19   #
NJFrank Loc: New Jersey
 
Yesterday I was out shooting. I was using a 10-20 zoom on my camera and wanted to see what kind of results I would get using handheld and zooming at the same time. Not sure this fits into this discussion, but here goes. The first is some PP work in LR. The second one used a textured layer in PS to come up with the final results. Impression perhaps?


(Download)


(Download)

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May 4, 2019 08:55:21   #
ngrea Loc: Sandy Spring, Maryland
 
The third one is really powerful. It has a film noir feeling

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May 4, 2019 10:03:22   #
Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.
 
Just yesterday I was reminded by my brother of a former neighbor. The gentleman has been gone for about 40 years now but is prints are still in demand. Most of his work was done with an 8X10, paper negatives and paper inter-negatives which created soft images. While this isn't strictly what you are talking about it does show that we don't have to have absolutely tack sharp images. The mans name was Adolf Fassbender if any one is interested. http://www.artnet.com/artists/adolf-fassbender/

Personally I have often used a Gaussian blur layer with masking to soften back grounds and/or unimportant parts of an image.

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May 4, 2019 11:30:04   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
NJFrank wrote:
Yesterday I was out shooting. I was using a 10-20 zoom on my camera and wanted to see what kind of results I would get using handheld and zooming at the same time. Not sure this fits into this discussion, but here goes. The first is some PP work in LR. The second one used a textured layer in PS to come up with the final results. Impression perhaps?

It pulls me down the creek. I think it's effective, except for the dark branch-like lines in the sky. Thanks for showing it.

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May 4, 2019 11:32:52   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
Rich1939 wrote:
Just yesterday I was reminded by my brother of a former neighbor. The gentleman has been gone for about 40 years now but is prints are still in demand. Most of his work was done with an 8X10, paper negatives and paper inter-negatives which created soft images. While this isn't strictly what you are talking about it does show that we don't have to have absolutely tack sharp images. The mans name was Adolf Fassbender if any one is interested. http://www.artnet.com/artists/adolf-fassbender/

Personally I have often used a Gaussian blur layer with masking to soften back grounds and/or unimportant parts of an image.
Just yesterday I was reminded by my brother of a f... (show quote)

Fassbender, your former neighbor, made great photos of mood and composition. Thanks for the link.

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