my feeling is that if you have an interesting main subject and a good composition, you have a de facto "focal point". so what will make this challenge unique?
my feeling is that if you have an interesting main subject and a good composition, you have a de facto "focal point". so what will make this challenge unique?
-mefnj
i read an article awhile ago on a depth of field, for instance on a landscape shot they explained that they wanted to keep a few rocks in the foreground in focus to maintain a focal point even though the image was a shot of some mountains and the rocks weren't really the subject of the image.
i read an article awhile ago on a depth of field, for instance on a landscape shot they explained that they wanted to keep a few rocks in the foreground in focus to maintain a focal point even though the image was a shot of some mountains and the rocks weren't really the subject of the image.
If you think about it from an optics standpoint, the focal point of a lens is the point where light rays would converge and form a clear image. Since the several lenses are combining to give you a certain focal point, the part of your image that you want to accentuate the most should be the clearest and most defined. I was having trouble conceptualizing this as well but I am taking it to be similar to a bokeh challenge. Hope this helps.
In terms of landscapes, it's very easy to have a landscape without a focal point. As a very general rule, where you incorporate a focal point (like the aforementioned rock) into a landscape, it becomes stronger, more visually arresting, for it. Look at the following:
That's a pretty good example of a landscape that, for all its dramatic sky, would be a lot more pedestrian if the boats were not in it. IMO it would be correct to say the moored sailboat adds a focal point to this image. But it's NOT the "subject"; the landscape itself is the subject.
Ditto the above, where the skiff is a strong focal point but not the subject of the image. However, it's a lot more the subject than is the moored sailboat above.
Are the cattails the subject here? I don't think so, but they are assuredly a focal point.
It gets more difficult with, say, portraits, but in general, you can easily conceive that the "subject" is the entire face, but the "focal point" is the eyes, right? See this portrait of Dwight Eisenhower by Yousuf Karsh:
