Garden at Dusk

[Mary Stamper]

I like to do what I call "gestalt focus"....that is, I don't strive to get anything in particular in focus, rather I turn the focus collar until the whole effect looks really cool. I especially look for the character of the out of focus areas. There was a very bright spot of light coming through the Allium blossom, so I had to underexpose most of it a bit to keep the shimmering look in the background sky. Then I finished it using control points in capture NX to lighten the underexposed areas and exploit the rather grainy effect that comes from raising exposure just a bit too much :)

D2x
70-200@120mm
f3.2 @1/350

iso 200

[Gus Cobos]

I like it the way it is Mary...very nice colors and subdued shades and hues...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

I love it Mary !!!! Different and works perfectly for me !!! These images made just by feel come out very special. Also like the NX enhancements, sure make a difference !!! Looking forward to more !!!

btw have you tried one of these with a fish-eye? .. would have a neat perspective but not sure if it could be rendered oof enough?

[Mary Stamper]

I love it Mary !!!! Different and works perfectly for me !!! These images made just by feel come out very special. Also like the NX enhancements, sure make a difference !!! Looking forward to more !!!

btw have you tried one of these with a fish-eye? .. would have a neat perspective but not sure if it could be rendered oof enough?

Thank you, Alfred!

I don't own a fisheye, but I've tried quite a few similar things with my 14mm prime and also with my zeiss 25. I love that sort of perspective, but am seldom happy with the OOF area rendering. Not sure whether it's that those lenses simply don't have great bokeh, or whether it's just that they have so much DOF available that things don't smooth out as well.

[Alfred Forns]

Mary I think its the dof I was just thinking back on one of my application for the fish eye .... for U/W images we used to set the lens to 2 3/4 feet and it the dof was good from minimum to infinity !!!

Will have to try some of what you are doing I have tried flowers with on slight sharpish area but not to the extend you go Does look appealing !!!

[Arthur Morris]

I love the effect and the mood. Excellent job of designing the image with the main subject in the urc. It could use a bit more room above.