Why do out-of-focus travel portraits feel more candid than sharp ones?

[Olivia47]

I was going through some old travel shots from a few years ago, and I realized I have this whole series of portraits where the person is slightly out of focus because I was so fixated on the background scenery. I keep looking at them, wondering if that mistake actually gives them a more candid, fleeting feeling, or if they’re just technically flawed photos. I’m curious if anyone else has a folder of “mistakes” they’ve grown weirdly attached to over time.

[Amelia_G]

I get the pull of those soft portraits they feel like a breath where the scenery outruns the subject and time slips a little you could call it a happy mistake or a memory born from mistakes

[EmmaLR]

From a craft view a shallow focus on the face can feel off yet it adds mood and makes the scene matter more than the exact expression the error becomes a signal that memory was guiding the frame

[Aria.M]

Maybe the camera was chasing the vibe of the place and the person slipped out of focus like the moment wanted to live in context rather than in lips and eyes which is a kind of misread of the scene

[Robert.W]

I am not sure blur proves anything the shot could be a bad lens or a shy subject or a simple error that did not deserve attention the idea that it carries truth seems overheated

[Brian77]

Maybe what you call a mistake is a way to measure attention not accuracy the series becomes a map of what your eyes kept noticing and what you chose to keep in the frame

[AdamH]

Travel photo habit makes me wonder if you could try a run of frames where you keep the background crisp and see how that changes the feel or you keep the imperfect mistakes and see what they teach you about pace and mood