Pixiq

Following on after my first post in this series; where there is no tonal separation critical focus is another way to make the subject 'pop' from the background.  In this case, the aim is get the subject sharp, but not the background, so checking the depth of field preview is essential here.

Photographing wildlife with a long fast lens makes it easy to separate an animal from its background, whereas for each macro shot the best camera angle and aperture needs to be appraised.

The easiest scenario is where a shallow depth of field is used so that only part of the subject appears in focus as can be seen in the poppy. This was taken in a hotel car park in China whilst waiting for my driver, so it was not worth setting up a tripod. Instead, I walked around the bed hand-holding the camera. With a slight wind blowing, I selected a fast shutter speed and focused on the central part of the flower. The stamens are sharp but the petals in front and behind are not, so the backdrop (with more poppies behind) automatically appears diffuse.

The beech leaves unfurling in spring was a trickier subject because they are green on green; however, since the leaves were virtually in a single plane, I did not have to stop down much (f/8) to get them and the bud scales all in focus. The late sun beaming onto the lawn behind helped too.

The pink houseleek flowers were growing in a new rock garden with pale stones behind, so tonally they were very similar, but by focusing just on the front flower it and the front of the buds, gave sufficient impact to make the plant stand out from the pastel toned backdrop.

Where the subject is some distance from the background there is little chance the latter will be a distraction. In this case the burnet moth was feeding on a flower with a tall stem raised well up from the ground without any other tall plants nearby, so it was not difficult to get good bokeh here.  The red and black coloration of the moth would make it stand out against any tone – apart from black where the edges of the moth would blend in with the background.

The next example was more difficult because the Australian spider orchid was a highly 3-D subject and because it appears on recently burnt ground, the background is a mix of pale and dark tones. To illustrate the problem I took a grab shot of the complete flower with charred out of focus trunks behind. I quickly decided the best option here was to forfeit getting the compete flower in the frame and instead to home in on the central part, the increased magnification reduces the depth of field but clearly shows the labellum with the fringe on each side.

The secret for separating a butterfly feeding (or resting) on the top or the edge of a flower with its wings closed, is to crouch down to the same height as the butterfly so that the sensor plane is parallel with the wings rather than standing up to bend down for the shot. Then, the sensor will invariably be at 45º to the butterfly, which will make it difficult, if not impossible to get the butterfly sharp all over and the background may well look messy.  Some butterflies feed very quickly while others may spend some time feeding on each floret on the flower head.  Therefore, you need to make a rapid decision about the best camera angle before the butterfly flits off to the next flower.