foreground / background

I am trying to be more mindful of foreground/background relationships in the photographs that I make.  I have been helped along in that effort by the use of some late film-era cameras that feature aperture priority exposure control.  Needing to first set the aperture forces me to think about the resulting speed selection and the consequences of the aperture for capturing the depth of field of a particular scene.  I had the Nikon FE with me during a recent visit to the historic Gutierrez-Hubbell house in Albuquerque's South Valley.  In the shot of the child's room I wanted to focus primarily on the iron bed ornamentation while retaining the character of the rest of the room in the background.

Most of the rest of the roll of Kodak ColorPlus 200 was shot in the Botanic Garden, also with the Series E Nikon 1.8/50 lens, sometimes with the addition of a push-on +4 closeup lens.

High contrast can provide good separation of foreground and backgound picture elements, but also challenges a film's capacity to maintain a good range of tonal gradation.  I think the ColorPlus does very well, particularly considering its modest cost.

Lens characteristics exert great influence on forground/background relationships, mostly in the way that the out-of-focus areas are depicted.  The Nikon normal lens I was using produces very smooth out-of-focus backgrounds which can yield a watercolor-like effect.

The misted glass behind the succulent in the conservatory provided a kind of filter effect which worked along with the depth of focus of the chosen aperture to provide some separation of foreground and background.

I have used long lenses primarily as a way to minimize foreground distractions such as bars and fences in zoo enclosures.  However, the longer-than-normal lenses can also help in other ways with establishing a desirable relationship to foreground and background picture elements.  I'm thinking this is a possibility I might explore further with the Nikkor-P Auto 2.5/105 which only fits on my Nikon F2.  That camera also features a 1/2000 top shutter speed which facilitates better control of depth of focus in bright light conditions.