In & Out of Focus E-Book (4/1)

The image I took in class played with the idea of light and the lens flare that occurs when a camera is pointed at a light source. If I were to continue with this idea, I would try taking more pictures of artificial light sources (lamps, lightbulbs, etc.) and also pictures of direct sunlight to see the sort of effects I could achieve with both.

Instead, I wanted to use my new iPhone to further explore portrait mode. With portrait mode, the phone automatically puts an object or person in focus and blurs out the background. There are also different light settings you can choose before taking the photo such as natural light, studio light, contour light, and stage light. When I first got this phone, I was obsessed with this camera feature because it adds a very professional quality to the photos. You don't have to know anything about depth of field and camera settings, and the photos still come out looking like they could have been taken with a DSLR camera. So I decided to take a series of photos that would really push the difference between blurred and in-focus. I took some photos with the portrait mode where the foreground is crystal clear and the background is blurry. I also took some where I purposely took a photo while I was walking or moving the camera so the whole image came out blurry. This reminded me of what we talked about in class about using the worst photos on purpose. Although those pictures came out blurry, they had a really interesting quality and sense of movement to them. Lastly, I took some photos with my actual camera of me taking the photos with my phone (photoception) to capture the action of using portrait mode.

One idea I had with these photos would be to create some kind of digital map where someone could follow along the path of where I took the photos. Since I walked up and down streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn and strolled through central park, it'd be cool if there was a way for someone to use their phone to see on a map the route I had taken. When they reached certain spots on my route, a photo could pop up showing them the photos I had taken in that exact spot. It would then encourage the person to take their own photo and share it on the map as well. People could continuously add photos of those spots (sort of like tagging) to create this pathway of photos. (Is there an app for that?) 

The idea I ended up going with was creating a photo book on flipsnack that juxtaposed my in-focus images with out of focus ones. I used the book as a metaphor for life being in and out of focus at times, and the series of photos shows a journey that has moments of clarity and moments of frenzied, blurry movement.