Larger/Smaller Av - Which one is better in this situation

[andylo]

Recently due to heavy rain my backyard has grow lots of yellow flowers.

In an abstract point of view I think it is nice to took a portion of flowers wide open, and having the fore/background blurred out.

But my dad who casually walked around and suggested I should use smaller Av and create more DoF, which IMO is not a good idea because my yard is not that big + it is ugly, so I think less is more in this case.

I have uploaded 3 photos:

1) what is my yard looks like
2) Photo wide open
3) Photo with more DoF

Please vote on which one looks better in your eye, and if you are kind enough, please also leave your opinion on why.

Many thanks in advance.


The yard:
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/af355/ACCreativePhotography/Backyard%20-%2020101104/_MG_8710.jpg

Pic 2:
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/af355/ACCreativePhotography/Backyard%20-%2020101104/_MG_8701.jpg

Pic3:
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/af355/ACCreativePhotography/Backyard%20-%2020101104/_MG_8709.jpg

[rwg717]

For shot #1, you would need to set your aperture to f11 or f16, this would make a greater part of the yard "in focus", as to shots 2 and 3 they really don't tell us much and although the near part of the shot is out of focus, as is the back, it really is not a very interesting scene:confused013.
Richard

[KevPride]

I don't think these were successful. No 2 would be best with shallow DOF (not necessarily wide open but close to it) but focus on one interesting flower head - get that really sharp & allow the blurred effect of either foreground or background yellow/ green to highlight the one flower in focus.

Hope that helps.

[Tannin]

OK, maybe it's not a very interesting back yard, but that is no excuse!

Pick your subject - the yard as a whole, a single flower, whatever you want - and hone in on that subject and that subject alone. Concentrate! Walk around until you have decided what it is, and from what angle, and in what light you want to capture, then do that thing. Be totally single minded about your subject.

Purely technical issues like depth of field and even focus are much less important, and should come later in your thought patterns, than the crucial thing, which is CONCENTRATE ON YOUR SUBJECT! It might wind up large or small in your final picture, near or far, it may be the only thing in your picture or one of many small things, but you should be crystal-clear in your own mind what that main subject is, and so should the reader. That's your job as a photographer: communicate the important thing to your reader. (What is the important thing? You decide.)