P52: Week 23 — Deliberate Out-of-Focus

This week in our P52, we’re playing with the deliberate use of Out-of-Focus. Unlike last week, where I took a picture that was decidedly of something and then made it abstract, this week I went with the deliberate intent of shooting out of focus. Specifically, I screwed my Lensbaby Spark onto my camera and gave it one more go. Alas, as I said on the forum, I think I’ve figured out what annoys me so much about it: I hate the way it makes me feel as if my own eyesight is bad. Maybe some of the other Lensbabies (the more expensive ones?) don’t do this, but I can never tell, just looking through the viewfinder on my camera, what — if any — part of my shot is in focus. It all has to wait until I get back to my computer. And after years in glasses and contacts, I don’t need a lens telling me my eyesight is bad! Plus, looking at too many shots from the lens in a row, I feel almost woozy, like the pictures themselves are spinning and giving me a headache.

That said, I am happy with this shot of my puppy at the dog park this morning. It’s one of the few cases where I feel like the Spark is doing well in intentionally blurring, and not like I just couldn’t nail a focus spot.

I liked a few of my shots of flowers and trees in the park as well:

And this one of Booker was another close contender:

As always, if you want to see more of what other people are shooting on the theme, you can click through for the rest of the blog circle.