Fresh Supply of Scented Incense in a New Spaby
librodoComment by photom: Hi Manuel and * Greetings from the Critique Club *
The comments you received seem to have stirred up a "mini controvery" over the use of soft focus to contol where you viewers' eyes travel. As you can tell, this seems to be a "love - hate" situation, either the viewer thinks it's cool - or else thinks it's a distraction.
The way you have it shown, the viewer is taken right to the red/black area in the center of the cup. From there he or she can explore outward. It works well.
If you did want to try more DoF - use a smaller aperture (larger number) as you shot this wide open at f 1.8. To do this you'll probably need a tripod, something you probably wouldn't take to a spa. You may find that the image seems to get too "busy" with everything in focus though.
The other artistic qualities of the image are very nice indeed - composition and lighting both support your subject very well.
I'm not sure you need the border - see what you think without one.
So - if you want higher scores and try to "satisfy" more viewers - reduce the soft focus. If, on the other hand, you really like this technique as I do, shoot for yourself and forget about high scores.
It's a nice image - and thanks for sharing.
Photographer found comment helpful.