This was one of my more inspired shots from my On Taking Assignments project. I used a flash to light the coins inside the jar with a little sidelight, and it added enough definition to the quarter to make it stand out while also providing enough diffused light to show the rest of the coins.
I Knew immediately that this photo would end up square in order to make it fit the confines of the glass jar. I didn't want to see any of the area outside the edge of the jar.
The blur that the bottle lends to the coins outside the opening help to bring the viewer front and center on the quarter, and the distortion of the bottle makes the contents hard to discern without the relief of the in focus coins in the center.
I also shot a few pictures with a wide angle lens to see what the coins would look like. It was interesting, but not near as interesting as this shot as the wide angle shot made the coins look like they were a mile away.
It might have been more true to how money always seems far away in real life, but in the end this picture is more optimistic.