After a few failed attempts to find a subject that would suit the exercise, I settled on a full shelf in a bookcase. I used my D90 with a 50mm f1.8 lens as this would give a very shallow depth of field and exaggerate the area of the photograph that is in focus. Three photos were taken with differing points of focus. The areas on the image in focus are bounded by the green lines on the images below. Each photograph was taken at 1/25 of a second, aperture 1.8, ISO 400, White Balance set to Incandescent and the camera mounted on a tripod.
This photograph immediately draws you to what can be perceived as the 'front' of the image. The rest of the image tails off quickly and fades to obscurity. This images feels quite 'in your face' and demands immediate attention of the foreground at the expense of the remainder of the image. Even when looking at the far end of the image (on the left), one is constantly drawn back to the area in focus.
Photograph 2 was focused around the mid point of the scene, however due to the angle of the subject, this is slightly to the left of middle in the picture itself - something to remember when using this technique in the future. Although both the near and far edges of the picture do not show anything clearly, we know enough about the subject from this one image to mentally fill these in, even if we do not know the precise detail.
The final image is focused on the furthest point visible. This draws the viewer into the photograph, almost as if a story is being told. It feels like you are being taken to the end of a journey and you have reached a conclusion. The blurred foreground builds tension as clarity appears.
Of the three images, I prefer the last. This is probably a reflection of my logical side that always wants to know how something works. This image gives the answer, whereas photograph 1 feels as if it's trying to distract from the main event. Photograph 2 simply says to me, 'here I am. take me as you find me'.
These techniques would work well, although possibly with less extreme blurring, when drawing the viewer to a point of interest that is deliberately not the expected point of interest. For example a bird on a post in front of a famous monument, where the monument is blurred, but just about recognisable and the bird is in sharp focus. Using a large aperture and precise point of focus allows the photographer to command the viewers attention to a specific point in the image.
This has been an interesting exercise, and one that proved more challenging than initially appeared
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