page_title: Tilted plane focus
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tilted plane focus / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Julia Margaret Cameron, British, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, "Prayer and Praise" 1865. Albumen print
context_page_description: "Tilted plane photography" is a method of employing focus as a descriptive, narrative or symbolic artistic device. It is distinct from the more simple uses of selective focus which highlight or emphasise a single point in an image, create an atmospheric bokeh, or miniaturise an obliquely-viewed landscape. In this method the photographer is consciously using the camera to focus on several points in the image at once while de-focussing others, thus making conceptual connections between these points.
context_section_description: Julia Margaret Cameron was a strong advocate of this use of selective focus. For example, in "Prayer and Praise", produced in 1865, there is a deliberate placement of focus at more than three points: on the face and parts of the body of the foreground child; and faces of mother and father; while a second child's face is thrown radically out of focus.
caption: "Prayer and Praise" Julia Margaret Cameron, British, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, 1865. Albumen print 11 1/16 x 8 15/16 in. Note that the camera in this instance is tilted down toward the scene from a point above the subjects' heads. It is this angle which has forced the plane of focus obliquely into the scene, and direction of the adult models by the photographer would be necessary to ensure focus where it is placed precisely on their eyes
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