This photo very clearly demonstrates in a portrait, the effect of plasticity at the focused image area when a photo is focused exactly. Plasticity is the impression of three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional surface. In this photo, the focus is exactly on the pupil of the nearest eye (his right eye, which is on the left in the photo). If one covers the eyes, the rest of the photo looks flat, two-dimensional, and lifeless. When one uncovers the eyes, one sees that the focused area around the eyes has a special, extraordinarily lifelike, expressive quality missing in the rest of the image. But when the eyes are uncovered, the rest of the photo also takes on much of that special quality of the area of the eyes, and the rest of the photo takes on the impression of being sharper than it really is.
Where the photo is focused, the image seems three-dimensional. One sees clearly how the eyebrows are in front of the eyes, the eyelashes in front of the eyeballs, the curvature of the eyeballs, etc. And this is most important, the expression of this photo is an exact replica of the child's expression of the moment, unequivocally, a la the comparison photos on this Messraster section of this site. Exact replication of half-tones (color tones) only occurs at the focal point. And that is one more very powerful result of being able to focus truly exactly: not only is that focused area sharper, but the tones are more accurate, and other phenomena permeate the whole photo when that focused point is on the most important image point.
© 2007 Mark B. Anstendig. All rights reserved.
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