Blurred backgrounds are very popular. Especially for portraits, whether of people or animals, but also for many other motifs, a blurred background can direct the viewer’s gaze to the main object. But what about unsharp foregrounds? From our point of view, caution is definitely advised.
Sharpness and blurriness
Selective sharpness only came into the world through photography. We humans do not know this phenomenon from our own experience. Our eyes always focus at lightning speed and automatically on the area of the field of vision we are looking at. Apart from defective vision, we therefore always see everything in focus. Before the invention of photography, no painter would have had the idea of blurring anything in his painting.
In photography, on the other hand, it is really impossible to achieve complete sharpness. Even if the lens is stopped down to f22 or f32, a closer look shows that the image is only really sharp in the plane of focus. Selective sharpness is therefore the rule in photography and not the exception.
So much for the technical aspects.
Blurred foregrounds
Most photographers agree that a blurred background suits many subjects. However, it should then be clearly blurred and not just a little. When it comes to blurred foregrounds on the other hand, opinions differ very much. Some photographers just love blurred foregrounds and try to include them in almost every picture. Others avoid them completely. And some, like us, are rather careful when it comes to blurred foregrounds. From our point of view, there are a few cases where they “work” and a number of cases where they are rather disturbing.
From our point of view, the featured photo is an example of a successful blurred foreground. It is dark and does not impose itself, but at the same time, similar to an out-of-focus background, the red blossom is highlighted, thus directing the viewer’s gaze to the object that is important for the picture.
In the following picture we don’t like the blurred foreground.

In this example it is not clear what the main subject is. The focus is on the house in the background. However, the grey stones make it look inconspicuous and it cannot visually compete with the pink rhododendron flowers in the foreground. But since the flowers are blurred, we don’t really take them as the main subject. All in all the house and the flowers compete with each other.
The next example is borderline in our view.

Since the focus is on the windmill, it is quite clearly perceived as the main object. However, the blurred foreground partially covers the mill. Fortunately, the hue of the wheat field in the foreground is quite unobtrusive. If the foreground were made of colorful flowers, things would certainly look different.
Conclusion
From our point of view, one should carefully consider whether a blurred foreground helps the picture or is rather disturbing. We know that tastes differ widely here. Therefore, please write in the comments how you see it.
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