Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

blurriness in portion of art photo

This is a discussion on blurriness in portion of art photo within the General photography forums, part of the Photography & Fine art photography category; Hi All, This is my first post and I hope I can explain my question. A brief background and explanation: ...

  1. #1
    celksy's Avatar
    celksy is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    178
    My Photos
    Please feel free to edit my photos
    Critiques
    Critique my photos anywhere in the forum

    Default blurriness in portion of art photo

    Hi All,

    This is my first post and I hope I can explain my question.

    A brief background and explanation: I am very new to art photography and have been experimenting with photographing everyday, usually natural objects and cropping/editing them to reveal the interesting compositions I see in them. Sometimes the results end up being quite abstract- not looking like the original objects but like something else- or like nothing really definable.

    I have taken some of the best of these and had them printed, matted and framed. I have recently gotten back a very large print of one of my favorites and I've noticed something in the print I hadn't seen on the computer: a large portion of the print is rather blurred. Now, I don't mean to say that this necessarily doesn't "work"- although it's not the background that's blurred (there is no background, really.)

    The photo reads sort of like an impressionist painting, which is what I wanted but I'd like to know if you think that having a portion somewhat blurred is necessarily a not-great quality, when the rest of the photo is in sharper focus and shows more detail.

    I mean, in some ways it would make more sense if all of it was blurred (or none of it was blurred, of course) but what if only part of it is? I think it suggests motion--, in a good way-- but my husband, whose opinion I respect, is left feeling a little uneasy because of this.

    Thanks for any thoughts or ideas you can pass along.

    If there's another sub-forum this would better be posted under, let me know.

  2. #2
    Mad Aussie's Avatar
    Mad Aussie is offline Moderator
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Brisbane, Qld, Australia
    Posts
    14,098
    My Photos
    Please ask before editing my photos

    Default

    Without seeing the photo in question it's really quite impossible to give direct advice here.

    However, generally speaking ... it's still hard

    Having part of your subject blurred is common and quite acceptable depending on the subject and composition. Aperture, zoom, and how your subject is positioned in relation to the plane of your sensor all have an effect on this.

    There are some things that rarely should be blurred though, a persons eyes for instance, especially if that person is the main subject.

    In the end though, photography is very, very subjective and what works for me won't always work for you etc.

  3. #3
    Marko's Avatar
    Marko is offline Administrator
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Montreal, QC. Canada
    Posts
    14,870
    My Photos
    Please do NOT edit my photos
    Critiques
    Critique my photos anywhere in the forum

    Default

    I'm with MA here - there is no rule...we'd need to see the picture to offer proper advice.
    - Please connect with me further
    Photo tours of Montreal - Private photography courses
    - Join the new Photography.ca Facebook page
    - Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/markokulik
    - Follow me on Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/111159185852360398018/posts
    - Check out the photography podcast


    "You have to milk the cow quite a lot, and get plenty of milk to get a little cheese." Henri Cartier-Bresson from The Decisive Moment.

  4. #4
    Andrew is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Victoria, BC. Canada
    Posts
    444
    My Photos
    Please ask before editing my photos

    Default

    In art there are many different opinions about what is good and what is actually art. There are also just as many opinions about what is photography and what is computer programming. It's all what keeps things interesting I guess. Motion implied in photography is quite common. Panning with a fast subject, holding still on the background while the subject moves through the frame, making unreal looking waterfalls using ND filters, etc, are all means to show speed. There was a recent thread here about movement in the shots. Is it art? Is it play? We all have our own opinions. Some photography that goes for lots of money isn't worth a second look to me.

    In the example you refer to I'd have to say no, it's not art. In fact per your own admission it's just a mistake. Painters just don't throw coloured oil at a canvass and hope the Mona Lisa appears. Had you planned and executed a concept or idea you had preconceived and managed to capture the moment then it may have been art,,,to you. And that's good. Nobody can tell you what you do or do not like to look at. That's not what you did in this case though and didn't even recognize the visual until after the fact. It's just blurry.
    Last edited by Andrew; 12-06-2011 at 01:10 AM.

  5. #5
    Iguanasan's Avatar
    Iguanasan is offline Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Halifax, NS
    Posts
    10,917
    My Photos
    Please feel free to edit my photos
    Critiques
    Critique my photos anywhere in the forum

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew View Post
    In art there are many different opinions about what is good and what is actually art. There are also just as many opinions about what is photography and what is computer programming. It's all what keeps things interesting I guess. Motion implied in photography is quite common. Panning with a fast subject, holding still on the background while the subject moves through the frame, making unreal looking waterfalls using ND filters, etc, are all means to show speed. There was a recent thread here about movement in the shots. Is it art? Is it play? We all have our own opinions. Some photography that goes for lots of money isn't worth a second look to me.

    In the example you refer to I'd have to say no, it's not art. In fact per your own admission it's just a mistake. Painters just don't throw coloured oil at a canvass and hope the Mona Lisa appears. Had you planned and executed a concept or idea you had preconceived and managed to capture the moment then it may have been art,,,to you. And that's good. Nobody can tell you what you do or do not like to look at. That's not what you did in this case though and didn't even recognize the visual until after the fact. It's just blurry.
    Careful about trying to describe art. Just saw a blurb on the news tonight about a monkey that's currently making hundreds of dollars per painting. He likes to use his hands, feet and tail to paint on canvases and they sell like hot cakes.
    “If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it.” – Jay Maisel
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Feel free to edit my shots ONLY for use on this forum and critique my shots in ANY discussion area.
    Flickr | Blog | Google+

  6. #6
    Andrew is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Victoria, BC. Canada
    Posts
    444
    My Photos
    Please ask before editing my photos

    Default

    On another thread about a week ago I eluded to the artsy-fartsy crowd that ran galleries and count monkeys, elephants and Andreas Gursky as top artists. The problem with most of the overnight genre artists and their promoters is that tides shift fast in that world and what hangs on a wall today could be lining the bird cage next month.

  7. #7
    JustinRyan215 is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    South Eastern Pa
    Posts
    394
    My Photos
    Please feel free to edit my photos
    Critiques
    Critique my photos anywhere in the forum

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Iguanasan View Post
    Careful about trying to describe art. Just saw a blurb on the news tonight about a monkey that's currently making hundreds of dollars per painting. He likes to use his hands, feet and tail to paint on canvases and they sell like hot cakes.
    But people are also stupid....

  8. #8
    celksy's Avatar
    celksy is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    178
    My Photos
    Please feel free to edit my photos
    Critiques
    Critique my photos anywhere in the forum

    Default

    I find this dialogue interesting, although I'm sure that to some of you it may be tiresome. Personally, if I like a photograph, the value wouldn't be diminished if I found out a blind person took it by accident.... on the other hand I can appreciate something that's been carefully crafted. After reading a some responses (which I respect, don't get me wrong ) maybe I should just slink away..... but I'm going to go ahead and show my partially blurry image.

    There may certainly be reasons other than the blurriness why this is not a "good" (help me find a better word here!) image - so have at it.

    "Japanese Tree" It's composed of some type of fungus, I guess, and some icky brown stuff on the north side of an old resort hotel.
    Attached Images Attached Images  


  9. #9
    kat
    kat is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Vancouver
    Posts
    4,329
    My Photos
    Please ask before editing my photos
    Critiques
    Only critique photos posted in the critique forum

    Default

    IMO, blurriness is great in many ways. For me though, with this image, I would of liked to have seen something that captures the eye specifically (the focus point) and then the blurriness wouldn't be a problem. Where this photo, to me, seems in whole an abstract, I would of liked it all in focus. But then again..it's personal preference.
    My new blog as of Nov/10
    http://katchickloski.wordpress.com/

  10. #10
    Mad Aussie's Avatar
    Mad Aussie is offline Moderator
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Brisbane, Qld, Australia
    Posts
    14,098
    My Photos
    Please ask before editing my photos

    Default

    From what I can see you have focused in the bottom right corner somewhere and the aperture was a bit too open to allow a decent depth of field creating the gradual blurriness as we look across the photo to the top left. This would have totally worked if you had been right down low and looking across the subject because then the blurriness would be in the background and helped to isolate the part you focused on more. Hope that makes sense.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36