Shallow focus, 2 angles, which one?

[Laramie]

Which one do you like best?

1.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f282/tylerpebley/20080509-IMG_0947.jpg

or

2.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f282/tylerpebley/20080509-IMG_0949.jpg

[Robert_Lay]

By focusing on the gun, you give it more prominence than the cartridges and vice versa.

However, in the one where you focus on the cartridges, only a few of them are in focus and that spoils the whole shot for me. If you want to give prominence to the cartridges, then use a deeper DOF to include them all, and put the pistol further away to keep it out of focus.

[Bill Boehme]

#2, but I think that it needs a little more depth of field so that most of the cartridges are in focus, or nearly so.

[samanan]

i agree that it would be much better if all the cartridges were in focus.

The second picture makes a better impression IMHO, because the cartridges themselves do not look that menacing, but with the gun blurred in the background, there is a hint of violence just around the corner....