Greg Molyneux Photography

New Jersey landscape and nature photography

  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Shop

Missed

April 2, 2016 by Greg Molyneux

Out of focus high key photograph of a jane magnolia bud

Missed — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/200

I’ve been chewing on out of focus photography for a while now—and by a while now I mean well over a year, and by out of focus photography I mean pictures that are deliberately rendered focus out, in absence of sharpness and clarity. Now I am not ready to declare this here photo the start of something new in my developmental photographic arc, but I am ready to state my affection for this kind of shooting. Done well it breaks through much of what we think are required features in a “good” photograph—strong lines, clear forms, and sharpness on our subject. Focus out instead pares down the rules to introduce simplicity, blur, and softness that brings the attention to the simpler beauty of form, contrast, and movement.

Shown here is a Jane Magnolia bud, a mere day or two from opening, presented in its stripped down form. Even in the absence of focus it’s still easy to pick up on everything happening in the photograph. The sun is warmly shining down on a single flower bud that’s part of a larger bush system. Here sharpness, focus, and clarity are not needed to tell that story. Even in its faded state the imagery is clear. This shot struck me immediately upon import into Lightroom. Even in its unaltered straight out of camera state it smacked me right in the face with that oh, I like this one feeling. A feeling that for me doesn’t come around too often.

Speaking of Jane Magnolias and the layered meaning of the titular Missed—this is the first time in about 3 springs my magnolia bush has armed itself with decent buds. I aggressively pruned and moved the bush a few years back and while it has spread its leaves OK in subsequent years, it has nary managed more than a handful of buds. This year it’s back with dozens and dozens of purple flowers ready for the appreciation of my lenses. I’d be surprised it this winds up my only magnolia capture of the year. It has been missed.

Interested in buying? Purchase

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 100mm bokeh cross processing flowers high key jane magnolia macro out of focus

« Reframe
Land Bridge »

Trackbacks

  1. Such is Life – Greg Molyneux Photography says:
    April 9, 2016 at 11:24 am

    […] has stormed back with a vengeance laying waste to my Jane Magnolia bush. It was only a week ago I wrote about how pumped I was to finally have my Magnolia back in full bloom after years in absentia. But […]

Looking for something?

Search by Keyword

14mm 35mm 40mm 100mm barnegat bay black and white blue hour bokeh cedar run dock road cross processing echinacea flowers frozen golden hour great bay boulevard greg molyneux hdr high key insects landscape long beach island long exposure low key lyrically inspired macro marina monochrome motion blur new jersey out of focus pinelands power lines purple coneflower reflection salt marsh ship bottom snow soft focus square format stafford forge wildlife management area sunset sunset park sunset point surf city weather

You can find me here

FacebookInstagramTwitter Flickr E-mail

Copyright © Greg Molyneux 2014–2022

Photos from the archives

14mm wide angle sunset photo with pastel clouds and a glassy reflection on oxbow water feature at the salt marsh.
Heavy mesoband snow and wind batter Barnegat Lighthouse as winter storm Juno skirts the New Jersey coast in this low key black and white photograph of a resolute and unmoving Old Barney at night.
Macro photo of a carpenter bee collecting wisteria pollen.
35mm blue hour photograph with the bay in the foreground and a razor thin strip of Long Beach Island in the background. Panning and a slow shudder brings motion blur into the peaceful, minimalist image.
Wide angle HDR photograph of sunset over remnants of Joaquin tidal flooding on the Dock Road salt marsh

Copyright © 2023 · Modern Portfolio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in