Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: shallow dof

Aren't mushrooms wonderful? So many kinds, and so interesting at all stages. Here is a tiny one that's beginning to open it's cap! :)

Using shallow depth of field is wonderful for creating a dreamy image, and it's surprising how busy the background may be, and yet, you can reduce the clutter to a lovely soft blur, which enhances your subject. Once I understood how DSLRs + a good macro lens can create such neat images, I finally couldn't be happy with my old super zoom anymore. This is a mushroom I found on our property on New Year's Eve on the very last day of my 365 project! If you move your mouse over the upper left of the image you'll see the picture I chose for my 365 Project!

(1 more in a note above) Looking throught my images, I saw this one and noticed that took it almost exactly four years ago! Yellow-Tinge Larkspur blooms in our lower forest, in between the oak trees. These flowers are a lovely splash of purple, rising above the forest floor. I think the buds are so odd looking, don't you?!

When I visited my friend Elaine's garden a few years ago, I was delighted to find both flowers and decorative plants to photograph. When I found this Sage plant, I was immediately taken by its beautifully fuzzy leaves and two-toned color. I experimented to try to get an interesting image and found success in a very shallow focus on the front leaves. What surprised me was the wonderful bokeh the fuzz provided! I feel a very strong urge to pet the leaves, and am so disappointed that my computer monitor isn't soft and fuzzy! :D Thanks Pam, for letting me know this is Sage! :) I asked Elaine and she confirmed it: SAGE! :D

Playing with a very shallow depth of field is so much fun, and is a great way to call attention to certain details. Here I'm showing the edges of the petals of an aster flower, while the rest of the flower falls away into blur. This flower was in a garden which was part of a walking tour that Steve and I went on a couple of years ago in Ashland.

With petals edged in frost, this Zinnia was so lovely this morning! I wanted to get a very shallow dof for an abstract image, and I also used some texture to create a more artistic effect. Thanks to Jerry Jones for the border texture, "Not A Clue".