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| Pine Needles and Dew |
Selective Focus
The use of limited depth of field to focus sharply on a specific object in the scene – while other parts are clearly out-of-focus – is called selective focus.
In macro photography, depth of field (or focus) is often quite small due to the closeness of the lens to the subject. Then, selective focus becomes a necessity, and selecting where to focus is your key decision.
In the pine needle photo, I picked two dew drops that acted as lenses to bring other pine needles into focus (click on the pic to see it larger).
Bokeh
The out-of-focus parts of the subject are, for me, what makes this photo interesting. At the least, the quality of the out-of-focus parts are critical to this shot. The way a lens renders out-of-focus areas is called its bokeh (pronounced bow-kay), from the Japanese word for blur or haze.
