Shooting Through

One of the techniques my wife and I learned on our photo tour of the Heritage Museums and Gardens was called Shooting Through an Object. That gives you an interesting effect of a hint of one color in the foreground and a sharply focused subject (of a different color, I suppose). I'm not very good at it but I think I'm getting better. I keep practicing it and it seems a little more natural to me now. The top picture has a white color in front from some Queen Anne's lace and a thistle is in focus. As with all of the pictures in my blog, just click on them to see them in a larger size.

I find the best way to get this effect is to put my camera in macro mode, focus on something about 2 - 3 feet away and, while holding the button halfway to maintain the focus, lower my camera (without changing my distance to the subject) until my "color" object is right in front of the lens. Of course, you don't want to completely obscure the subject but you want the unfocused color to be around the focused subject. In the second picture, the foreground color is from goldenrod with thistle, again, in focus.

As you can tell from my description, it's not an easy process. At least it's not easy the way I do it. Perhaps real photographers know quicker and easier ways to get this effect. Then again, perhaps real photographers have practiced this more than I have and it just seems easier and is quicker because they don't have to think about it as much as I do. As with any skill, it is always harder at first. I'll just keep practicing. It's certainly fun.