Roof Apple
I was messing around in the garden with my 200mm SMC Takumar lens today. I found this apple on the wood shed roof. I think a racoon probably left it, though there is an apple tree right next to the shed, this apple is a different variety. In the other neighbour’s yard is an unpicked apple tree which is more likely the source of the roof apple. I think they are leaving the apples for birds and animals as winter food. You can see that tree out of focus in the background of the first shot. I thought that the apples in their various colours looked good enough all blurry to warrant a picture of their own.
I can’t decide if a softer or harder focus works better so have shown both versions below (edit: deleted one to free up storage space on my blog). At the time of writing I am inclined towards the first version, partly for its framing, but I do like that hint of an in-focus stick in the lower left of the second version. I am still finding it hard to make out-of-focus pictures on purpose – ones where nothing is in focus, nor meant to be. Its hard to overcome many years of taking technical photos to document things in clear detail. Sadly, I seem to have no problem taking blurry shots when I intend them to be nice and sharp.
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burnt embers 
I love the blur. The colors in it are wonderful!
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Hi Douglas, I rescued this comment from spam – not sure why it went there. Thank you for your comment – the colours are great, and most of those are apple colours which are ranging from red to green and all kinds in between.
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Great bokeh to be found on those apples, I never would have thought of that, myself! I love it, my friend, what a fabulous set of pictures!!
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Toad – you are making me feel very happy with all your nice comments today. Thanks so much for having such a close look at my photographs from the past few days. I really like that bokeh too – I really have a preference for a naturally lit background like this, but maybe will fool around a bit with christmas lights or similar sometime. I was caught in a traffic jam the other day created by the truck parade (twice, it caught me at two interesections). I did not have my camera (I was just nipping out to the store, which took an hour because of the delays) and regretted it – all those coloured lights streaming by in the dark at a constant speed. Lots of time for experimenting and getting a good shot.
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Oh, I like these, especially the first one with the apple. Great captures! 🙂
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Hi Katie – nice to you have dropping by again, and thank you for your comment. 🙂
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Beautiful lights in the last two pictures. And wonderful shot, the first one. Cool to notice that on a roof. 🙂
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Thank you Nandini. I was looking for a way to photograph the apples on the tree next door from my yard, which meant getting up just a bit higher on a lawn chair, which is when I saw the apple on the roof. I was surprised.
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*like*
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I never thought when I was building the wood shed that it would serve as a racoon hangout, or a place for photos.
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I also like all three. I think you have the out-of-focus technique down pretty good. It’s especially nice in the first photo but I also like the framing on the second photo. Very nice work.
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Thanks ken – I’m learning to look for it which is the new part in some ways.
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I like all three…the composition of the first and the abstract look of the other two!
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Hi dh- thanks for commenting. One of the things I find interesting is how some thin twigs that are out of focus in the left foreground alter and distort the bokeh from the background, particularly noticeable in the first photo, but present in all three. An effect that would be worth playing around with.
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