Shooting Blind

[Nnnnsic]

This is probably the last day I had for borrowing Wendell's 52mm Hoya R72 IR filter... and now I'll probably have to buy my own... but seeing as it was such a beautiful day, I grabbed the camera and snapped a hundred or so shots with the filter on... which is something you usually don't do with IR.

Anyone who knows about the IR filters knows how thick they are... and they are ridiculously hard, almost impossible, to see through... unless of course you're looking directly at a light source through them.


Me on the bus while I was taking some of these pictures. I was hoping this shot would show how dark the filter glass is, but alas...

But bugger it, I thought. I'm an impatient sod, especially if I'm shooting from a bus so... the filter stayed on.

And the camera autofocused some of the time, other times (most of the time) I had to do it manually.

Here's what came out of it:

[Nnnnsic]

But wait... there's more!











Comments... critiques... evil grins?

[Sheetshooter]

Leigh,

I am a crazy fan of optional focus and so I really like the middle three shots in the second batch. Most particularly the broad in the tit-fa on the bus. (Is it in fact a dame?) Her, her blank presence, the fuzz of the mobile cocoon - it is all just so very indicative of the numbing blank-out of commuting on public transport.

Hey, and the dog walking over for a closer look - what about him? It's like he knows it isn't focussed and he is wandering over to check the lens setting.

More of these please.

[wendellt]

Yo bud

Excellent!
I like the tonal balance and contrast of the first and second ones

I think someone should engineer a hack device that acts as a second viewfinder

You can keep the IR filter for another 3 weeks, I don't get my camera back for another 20+ days

[Nnnnsic]

Woohoo!

I mean.. bad... terrible.. but yet... woohoo.. wait.. you know what I mean...

[sirhc55]

Leigh - it’s great to see you putting your camera to use with some very good results. Not sure about the first pic tho’

[gstark]

There's some great images there, and I especially agree with SheetShooter's comments abouit the first of the dog shots.

But I also especially like the second of those too. Surely it's depicting a decisive moment for a dog?

[Greg B]

...I am a crazy fan of optional focus ....

Fantastic - "optional focus"

Comment of the weekend. Gold.

[Sheetshooter]

Greg,

I don't know if there is a more widely accepted name for it, but OPTIONAL FOCUS is what I refer to it as.

It is nothing all that new. Absence of a point of sharp focus (as opposed to narrow depth-of-field DIFFERENTIAL FOCUS) has been played with by many, including myself, for years and some of the most enchanting examples I have seen are in a sequence produced by an old favourite of mine from the mid-20th Century: the largely unsung hero Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

It stands to reason that when it was found that one could record the 'perfect description of the lens' (to use an aproximation of Ansel Adams's term) in a clearly delineated form that many clamoured for the ability and so was born the Modernist experience of 'objectivity' as pursued by the likes of Group f64.

That is a genre which is not without appeal and is still widely practiced. But, on the other hand, there are those whose goals are not so much centred on the 'reproduction' of a motif as with the 'interpretation' of that motif. As in the case of the bus passenger and the dog shots to which I alluded we are well able to get the message loud and clear without the distraction of sharp focus drawing our attention to a particular aspect of the scene.

Cheers,

[Greg B]

Sheetster, there could not be a better name for it. I love it.

Thanks also for the explanation. I didn't doubt that the concept was a valid one, or that it would be a serious and interesting approach to certain situations where the overall look and feel conveyed more emotion that the detail.

However, it just made me think of that moment when the guitar is not quite in tune, and the cry goes up - close enough for jazz.

I look forward to the day when someone suggests that one of my shots is not sharp - my response may be ill informed and/or inappropriate, but it will be that I have employed optional focus, and the viewer needs to get with the programme.

[wendellt]

"These pictures invite us to live on the verge of surprise, where fear accompanies delight."

- Wendell Berry excerp from Unforeseen Wilderness, commenting on the work of Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

[Glen]

Wendell And Sheetshooter, are you guys sure you didn't make that name up, Ralph Meatyard?

I think I will use that name next time I get questioned by the photo nazis.

[Nnnnsic]

We learned about him in Uni.

Whilst I'm not being compared to him (I'd be shot to the ground... lol), I like how I'm being mentioned in the same thread as him.

[Glen]

Leigh, just got the link from Wendell, I would be very pleased to be mentioned in the same thread as him

[MCWB]

Wendell And Sheetshooter, are you guys sure you didn't make that name up, Ralph Meatyard?

I think I will use that name next time I get questioned by the photo nazis.

 ROFL! I bags Cecil Abbatoir!

These are awesome Leigh, great stuff!! I just checked how much these filters cost though... ouch!

[Glen]

Look forward to seeing you at the AA, Mr Abbatoir

Regards

Mr Meatyard

[MCWB]

And you too Mr Meatyard. I shall be sure to bring my other half, Miss Mavis Slaughterhouse.

[Glen]

[ozimax]

Greg,

I don't know if there is a more widely accepted name for it, but OPTIONAL FOCUS is what I refer to it as.

It is nothing all that new. Absence of a point of sharp focus (as opposed to narrow depth-of-field DIFFERENTIAL FOCUS) has been played with by many, including myself, for years and some of the most enchanting examples I have seen are in a sequence produced by an old favourite of mine from the mid-20th Century: the largely unsung hero Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

It stands to reason that when it was found that one could record the 'perfect description of the lens' (to use an aproximation of Ansel Adams's term) in a clearly delineated form that many clamoured for the ability and so was born the Modernist experience of 'objectivity' as pursued by the likes of Group f64.

That is a genre which is not without appeal and is still widely practiced. But, on the other hand, there are those whose goals are not so much centred on the 'reproduction' of a motif as with the 'interpretation' of that motif. As in the case of the bus passenger and the dog shots to which I alluded we are well able to get the message loud and clear without the distraction of sharp focus drawing our attention to a particular aspect of the scene.

Cheers,

"Ahh, actually I prefer Ludo meself....and quinces"
(Greenbottle speaking to Dr Pim, 1933, Adelaide)

Seriously, the dog photos are cool, I like the bus shot, the first photo is good but boy oh boy the subject is ugly

Max

[Nnnnsic]

the first photo is good but boy oh boy the subject is ugly

The first photo was taken on the Sony Ericsson K750i

And I agree.

[Slider]

Some great shots there. Looks like there is something else I'll have to experiment with.