![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/13048-twigs-f11.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The image above is my favorite from a series taken from the same position, but with depth of field varied using apertures from f\/5.6 to f\/16. Below is most of the set, with f\/8 left out to enable easier comparison of f\/11 with either extreme).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/13046-220-f56.jpg\" "\\"f\/5.6\\"")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/13048-220-f11.jpg\" "\\"f\/11\\"")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/13049-220-f16.jpg\" "\\"f\/16\\"")
<\/div>\nThe f\/11 version seems to me to have the right balance (or tension) between the two saplings as principal subject and the similar shapes in the background. The latter draw the eye much more than with f\/5.6, but still leave the central pair dominant. I find f\/5.6 over-emphasizes the isolation of the pair from the surroundings, while f\/16 gives too little separation, making the image feel too complex and confusing. In general, I like complexity, but complexity with structure.<\/p>\n
Be that as it may, I think the main point here is that changing depth of field changes the message. As I commented in discussion on Art and Perception<\/a><\/p>\n What I \u201cwant to say\u201d is not so clear yet, which is why I chose this image to illustrate the issue. Or rather, I want to say both <\/em>that here\u2019s an interesting pair of saplings entangling and<\/em> they\u2019re here entangled in an interesting patch of woods.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the time I made the photograph, I was thinking of the saplings as purely visual elements, whose relationship I adjusted by the camera position. It wasn’t until processing at the computer that the allusion to human figures embracing occurred to me. This fits right in with recent musings at A&P on the subliminal significance of the figure<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The image above is my favorite from a series taken from the same position, but with depth of field varied using apertures from f\/5.6 to f\/16. Below is most of the set, with f\/8 left out to enable easier comparison of f\/11 with either extreme). The f\/11 version seems to me to have the right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-experiments","category-lessons","tag-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendurbin.com\/sourdough-trail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}