OBJECT ISOLATION

OBJECT ISOLATION

An object can be seperated from its environment by various methods. E.g. you can use a very wide lens to sort the scene into distinctive layers. However, while you seperate the object the environment is still visible which may be disturbing because -say- the background is very ugly. Sometimes there's a workaround for this problem: we choose a very small depth-of-field so only the main subject is in focus while everything in front or behind the focus plane gets blurry and therefore virtually unimportant. Have a look at the 1st sample below. The blue marble to right right sucks the view from the first look. This is a natural reaction because the brain scans for the most contrasty subject first. The isolation of the object due to its "outstanding" sharpness is very significant here.

A small DOF is also a common technique for portrait photography. Usually it is quite difficult to find the right balance between people, that are chosen to be the main subject, and their environment. A sharp background is often distracting here so a large aperture should be used to focus the attention on the point of interest.