Depth of Focus – the art of selectively focusing on an element or elements of an image,  for effect.

I came up with that myself!  Do you agree?  No doubt someone somewhere has a more technical definition.

The shot above is one of my favorites from a trip our family just took.  While on vacation, we introduced my daughter to the vibrant and hip part of town.  This picture reminds me of all the time we spent at the picnic table, first and foremost.  But most of all, I love how the image illustrates my daughter studying the musicians in the mural.  It’s as if you can see her soaking up the culture and diversity that we so enjoyed in the big city.

While the picnic table is in sharpest focus, the mural isn’t very clear and my daughter is completely out of focus.  And somehow my eye is drawn along her line of sight, from her to the musicians.  And this focus, or lack thereof, transforms the image for me from an everyday vacation shot to a comment on her growing into the richness that I want life to hold for her. Minus the beer, of course.

I took the shot with my 45-150mm lens at f/4.5.

Here is another, more traditional, shot of the hibiscus in our front yard.

I took this one with my Lensbaby, which makes selectively focusing easy (or hard, depending on your skill at focusing by squeezing).  The background bud that was so out of focus was really just inches away from the sharper flower. The colors of the trees and sky in the background shine through in spite of being blurry and add such vibrance to the picture.

And this last shot uses depth of focus merely to direct the viewers attention where it should be. The picture isn’t about the gorgeous outdoor setting (it was) or the beautiful weather (it wasn’t).  It’s about crazy hair!

I hope you are all having much better hair days than she was!

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Erin is a bookish SAHM, former Latin teacher and occasional CPA. She is Episcopalian, a yellow dog democrat and an addict of British royal history.  She is trying to add photography to her repertoire due to a moral obligation to document for posterity the extreme cuteness of her husband and two daughters. Her blog, DigitalPhotographyForMoms.net, offers tips and short cuts to help other Moms (and everyone else) create great pictures of their kids.