Focuso Artistic Desktop Backgrounds

I have been shooting photographs that are out of focus on purpose as artistic expression. This allows us to concentrate on form, composition, color, mood and avoid some of the everyday details that can make a picture too complex. Often these pictures take on the look of a painting because the blur is similar to a paint stroke. The genre is called Focuso. Focus Out.

I have put together a site which makes it easy for you to save Focuso pictures for your desktop background. Thanks Amy for the suggestion.

http://www.focuso.org/desktops/

Focuso Paintings - Out of Focus Pictures as Art

This series of photos in the woods have a painterly feel. Some find them a bit more accessible than the abstract at night shots.

It can take a little adjustment to appreciate focuso. After you get used to the focus issue, you start to appreciate the composition and color. A good way to do this is to set a piece to your desktop picture. Go to the big picture (click on this picture then select the all sizes link above the flickr picture and choose a bigger size) and right click to save as desktop - you can probably chose stretch for most cases. I will set up a site specifically for focuso that would be good for the desktop.

Focuso People - Out of Focus Photographic Portraits

Above are four examples of focuso portraits - photographic portraits taken out of focus on purpose for artistic reasons. In some many cases, the person can be made unrecognizable and abstracted. Hunt through the flickr pics in the focuso group and you can find examples. In other cases the character's features are there but blurred to posterized type effect.

In lightest focuso, it might be said that there is only a softening. I have been blending focuso over an in-focus photo and applying effect. It works to blend the features and is quite beautiful. See the models set.

Have fun with this - take a few shots in focuso along with your regular shots and see if you can capture the essense the aura of a subject. The picture at the bottom is one of my favourite pics ever. It is of course, shot out of focus on purpose.

Please leave a message below if you give this a try and let us see the results!

Focuso Eggs

Focuso Tag in the Vernacular!

Above is Dave's Focuso shot (not mine) and it is very nice - I would be happy to call it mine ;-).

He has tagged his picture as Focuso! Making it perhaps the first tag by the general public as the word Focuso works its way as a meme...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davesinclair/442707486/in/pool-focuso/

Also came up with the concept of Focusolo - the effect of motion in a picture due to out of focus areas - usually in curves between colors. You can see an example in

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=439237220&size=l

Come on by and see how the Focuso Explosion Set is coming along:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danzen/sets/72157600038941825/detail/

Coins 2020 - the Future With OLED Technology

Coins 2020
Originally uploaded by Dan Zen.

This simple Focuso photo received a comment saying "you gotta love focuso" which might be the first time the general public has used the term in the vernacular.

Coins 2020 is one in a series of 2020 Focuso photographs imagining what basic items in our world will be like when they glow like this due to OLED technology or other.

The picture is also part of the Focusp Explosion Contest for a free Flickr Pro Year. Please come by and comment at http://flickr.photos/danzen.

Focuso Explosion Contest!

You can win a free year as a Flickr Pro if you are the first to comment on each of the upcoming sets of the latest Focuso Explosion!

Read more about it and see the pictures at the Flickr Focuso Group - and in particular this post.

Dan Zen