We’ve all done it: Keckhanding the camera and the shutter gets prodded by mistake. Usually the result is an out-of-focus image of the floor or a blank wall. Even a modern autofocus lens can be caught out so the shot is usually blurry. A manual lens doesn’t stand much chance. This, however, was a fluke shot with a difference. I was adding the Arte di Mano leather half case to my Leica M-P and 50 Apo-Summicron when I heard the shutter snap. I didn’t think anything of it until a few days later when I uploaded the SD card.
This particular wayward shutter press had captured the recently pollarded tree in my garden through the venetian blind—obligingly horizontally slatted at the time—in my study window. It’s not an ideal set of circumstances. But not only was the focus on the tree perfect, something of a flier for a manual-focus M lens, the old black poplar was looking pretty good despite his haircut. In fact, it almost looks as though the tree is inside the room rather than at the end of the garden. All the detail of the foliage is there and it is extremely difficult to see the slats of the blind passing across the image. This illusion is a good example of how a narrow field of view can help diminish the foreground as well as creating background bokeh.
I don’t suppose I could do this again even if I tried.