Your thoughts on focus

[deeky]

I know, not a huge range of tones in this one. Looking it on the computer I realized I blew the focus on the lower corner of the bottle. I tried cropping it out, but then the composition just didn't feel comfortable.

What do you think? Is the oof lower corner a distraction?


IMG_1060a1 by breckmiller, on Flickr

 

[Tony S]

No as much of a distraction as all the dead space in the upper left is.

 

[timor]

You didn't "blow the focus", focus is on the top of the bottle. The lower corner of the bottle and the rock in the lower right corner seems to be just outside the depth of field. The aperture were too large or the focal lenght too long. With such a short distances is better to use manual focusing as you can better control the placement of the DoF than when using AF.
I think the picture has the proper range of the tones and represents the subject agreeably.

 

[fiziwig]

My eye is drawn to the neck of the bottle, which is in focus. The corner being out of focus doesn't seem important to me.

 

[deeky]

You didn't "blow the focus", focus is on the top of the bottle. The lower corner of the bottle and the rock in the lower right corner seems to be just outside the depth of field. The aperture were too large or the focal lenght too long. With such a short distances is better to use manual focusing as you can better control the placement of the DoF than when using AF.
I think the picture has the proper range of the tones and represents the subject agreeably.

That's what I meant - you just said it better. I was shooting manual focus. This is actually along the face of an old quarry. The sun was in front of me and behind the lip of the quarry on a cloudier day. Hence the larger aperture. I would have liked to have it all in focus, but was obviously paying more attention to the neck. The scum on the outside of the bottle actually made it a little tricky to focus.

 

[timor]

I would have liked to have it all in focus, but was obviously paying more attention to the neck. The scum on the outside of the bottle actually made it a little tricky to focus.

Actually you can focus only on one plane or one distance, everything what is outside that plane is technically out of focus, but could be perceived sharp as the circles of confusion are still small enough. This zone of perceived or acceptable sharpness is called DoF. If you are using modern DSLR then most likely the DoF scale on your lens is omitted (pity) so you should get maybe an app for your phone :
Hyperfocal Distance and Depth of Field Calculator - DOFMaster
to be able to calculate DoF in field. There are maybe different views and opinions, but in general lack of sharpness in the fore plane is not a good thing.