i’ve fumbled through a few attempts to explain how i take my nearsighted photos via email so i decided it was time to fumble through an explanation on my blog. i will apologize in advance for the fuzziness of the explanation. (though perhaps fuzzy photos deserve a fuzzy explanation.)

for starters:

i use my 50mm lens and set the focus as close as possible.

i put the camera in aperture mode and open the lens as wide as possible (mine goes to f/1.8).

the fuzziness (of the explanation) comes in because i find it hard to break what i am doing down into steps that you can follow. this is mostly because what i am really doing is playing, but i’ve been playing for long enough now that i have a pretty good idea of what will work and how to get the results i want.

here are the general rules i follow:

i don’t look through the lens to take the photos. i insert the camera into the scene and snap and occasionally glance at the photos to make sure the background is close to how i envisioned. i don’t look through the lens because it gives me a lot more freedom to play with angles and motion and it’s easier to shoot up into scenes. (plus, it saves me from having to spend a lot of time lying on the very wet and muddy ground in potentially awkward places while attached to a very large and strong dog who does not stand still. you may not have these problems.)

i put the camera too close to the subject(s) so that if anything is in focus, it is not where you’d expect it to be.

i tend to point the camera up through the scene toward the sky. if it is sunny, i either shoot directly into the sun or have the sun just off to the side of the lens. pointing the camera up through the scene toward a colored wall or a car or an umbrella is also fun. if that doesn’t work, i point the camera into the scene.

i will occasionally move the camera at the same time i take the photo (usually a little bit to the right or left).

so far, this seems to work best with things like flowers and grasses and weeds and blossoms and berries.

ok, does this make any sense at all or did i totally confuse you?