Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept – A Moment in Time #37

The great photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson said “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept” and to some degree I certainly agree. That’s not to say this statement should be used as an excuse for poor technique, rather that not every image has to be sharp to be credible. The way that a moment is captured should allow the viewer to get a real sense of the scene. I’m a documentary wedding photographer so I spend all day trying to do just that; looking for the moments that I’ll later piece together to form the visual narrative telling the story of the wedding day.

With this particular scene I really wanted to capture a sense of the fun that dad and his daughter were having on the dance floor. By choosing a slower shutter speed and panning with the girl as dad swings her around I was still able to retain *some* sharpness on the main subject whilst allowing the rest to disappear in a blur of fun and laughter.

Sharpness is a borgeois concept

For photographers: This was shot on a Nikon D750 with the 28mm lens at f/2.8, 1/50s, 12800 ISO using only the available light.

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