Pickling Olives

[SloMo]

I took these photos a couple of weeks back as a DOF exercise and for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about aperture size while eating the salad for dinner.

[Ken Curtis]

I'm not sure from what you said what it is you were trying to accomplish. FYI, I found that I can use a large aperture (small f-value) and take multiple shots with the focus set near, middle and far, then combine with software (Photoshop CS5 and CS6) to achieve clear objects and blurred background. It works well when the wind isn't moving the objects (such as flowers) and these olive jars would be perfect for you to experiment with. My two cents worth...

[tbob]

I took these photos a couple of weeks back as a DOF exercise and for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about aperture size while eating the salad for dinner.

Hmm; are you referring to the lens or the aperture the salad was going into?

From a compositional point of view I think it would be interesting to compare having the first jar in focus then the rest out of focus, sort of a reverse of the second image in depth of field. The second image I find my my eye traveling down the row and continuing into the bright background. I suspect you need a darker or even more blurred background for image two to work.