Where’s the focus?

Abstract is not really my style but the weekly photo challenge this week challenged me to think about it. Usually focus is very important to me – making sure that I’m crisply focused on the appropriate thing. Going for a more abstract look made me think about focusing differently.

For example in this shot I am deliberately focusing on the reflection of the grass in my pond rather than at the pond skaters on the surface or the newts beneath. I’m not sure if this really counts as abstract, but it’s certainly different!

What I would consider to be a more interesting view in a pond might be a Diving Beetle larva (this was in the village pond, not mine):

Perhaps this one counts as abstract too as you can’t really see what I was looking at, and it’s just a mass of leaves and branches. It could be an abstract representation of spring and the wonder of so many fresh new leaves.

The keen eyed amongst you may have spotted what I was actually looking at – there’s a bird in the midst of it. It was a bird I’d not spotted before and when I looked it up when I got home it turns out that it’s a female Blackcap. The male was there too, but I didn’t manage any decent shots of him.

So you don’t strain your eyes, here’s a cropped version so you can see Mrs Blackcap: