In Figure 7–3, the boy who's on the paddleboard is much closer to the camera than the person who's diving down into the water. It's clear that the boy is the subject and the diver is a supporting element.
Figure 7–3: Using a single subject and a secondary focal point.
However, in Figure 7–4, the two main elements are equidistant from the camera. Each is in focus and each provides an equal level of importance to the message. As a result, the relationship between the boy and the bird is the message. The pelican is staring at the boy, and the boy is playfully peeking from behind the piling. The photo shows a sort of standoff between the two. I represented the boy and the bird equally in the composition in order to cause the viewer to look back and forth between the two in the spirit of the standoff.
Figure 7–4: Using spatial relationships to showtwo subjects.
Enhancing your Message with Selective Focus
When you look at something, your eyes focus on that one point, and you technically see two of everything else in your field of view. (I tell you more about how eyesight works in Chapter 2.) To test this theory, place your finger 12 inches from your eyes and focus on it while noticing the elements behind it. Apart from your finger, you see two of everything. Typically, you won't pay any mind to the elements that you aren't focusing on. You concentrate on what's in focus, basically ignoring everything else even though you know it's there. If you scan your focus to another element, you're then ignoring the previous one. The point? Your eyes can focus on only one thing at a time.
In reality, your eyes can jump from one focal point to another, adjusting the sharpness of the elements around you. However, when you view a photograph, you can see only what the photographer lets you see. He hides and reveals things using focus. More specifically, the photographer uses selective focus to hide background and foreground elements.
stand alone regardless of its surroundings. (See the later section 'Controlling depth of field' for more info.) Photographers use selective focus to tell people exactly what to look at in a photograph.
In Figure 7–5, for example, I used selective focus to highlight the figure in the stained glass window. Nothing else in the scene really caught my eye, but I was interested in the way the figure in the glass was lit. A streetlight from outside the church was shining directly behind her and affecting her alone, giving her prominence. Through the use of selective focus, I made the subject even more prominent in the scene.
50mm,
Figure 7–5: The use of selective focus leaves no doubt as to whatthe subject is.
Photographers often use selective focus to reveal a specific detail. For instance, you often see it used in stock photography of an open book or a newspaper, where the technique forces viewers to read one word. The other words on the page are soft in focus and aren't as easy to read as the one that's used as the focal point.
In order to achieve selective focus on a small detail like a newspaper's text, use a macro lens (or set your point-and-shoot to macro), which enables you to get close to your subject and still achieve focus. (Turn to Chapter 3 to find out more about the macro lens.) In situations when your subject isn't so small, you can pull off selective focus by using a telephoto lens and shooting with a wide-open aperture. The upcoming section 'Controlling depth of field' tells you more aperture and focal length.
The way you choose your focal point can reveal a lot about your subject and its relationship to other elements in the scene. When taking a portrait of someone, it's generally nice to make their eyes the focal point. After all, it's human nature to look at people's eyes when communicating with them — the eyes are known as a 'window to the soul.' However, when you're trying to tell a story, the eyes may not always be the best place to focus. Try focusing on a person's hand touching something or making a gesture.
Imagine a scene where a boy is holding flowers behind his back and a girl is in front of him trying to peek over his shoulder. When taking this photo, you can focus on her eyes to reveal the expression she's making, or you can focus on the flowers to reveal what all the fuss is about. If you have time, try it both ways. If you have even more time, focus on the calendar on the wall in the background that has one of the days circled in red, which could suggest that the viewer is seeing an anniversary celebration.
In Figure 7–6,1 used the panning technique (which I tell you even more about in Chapter 16) to isolate the man riding the motor vehicle while every other element in the frame is affected by motion blur. In this image, I set my shutter speed to 1/30 second.
Figure 7–6: Using the panning technique to focus on a point and reveal that it's in motion.
Controlling depth of field
Traditionally, photographers control depth of field using two methods: aperture and focal length.
Your focal length is determined by the size of your lens. In the 35mm digital SLR format, you have the following lens options:
Wide-angle lens: Any lens that's 35mm or less is considered a wide-angle lens. The wider the lens, the more depth of field it provides at a given aperture. In other words, using a wide-angle lens provides less magnification in your scene's elements and results in greater depth of field. In fact, it's often difficult to cause your background to go soft when shooting with a wide angle lens. To do so, you must get very close to your subject and have a great distance between it and the background. Typically a wide-angle lens is used when you want to reveal details about the scene and when a large depth of field works in your favor.
Compare Figure 7–7 to Figure 7–8 and notice how shooting with a wide-angle lens increases the amount of scene you see and the amount of detail in it. Figure 7–7 shows a wake boarder jumping off a ramp; the wide angle lens worked great to show how much distance he went after hitting the ramp and reaching his peak. A telephoto lens would have shown more detail in the wake boarder but would have eliminated the important details surrounding him. In a close-up shot, you'd have no idea how far he jumped or that he hit a ramp to get airborne.
Normal lens: A 50mm lens is considered to be a normal lens. This option is neither wide, nor telephoto, and it's great for representing scenes as closely to the way you see them when taking the photograph.
Long lens: Anything above 70mm starts to get into the telephoto classification. A
