Digital 101 Depth of Field

In conjunction with the Nikon Talk Forum at DP Review

Depth of Field...

This weeks subject is depth of field.  Depth of field is simply the area in focus on any photo. There are many reasons to expand or reduce the area in focus.

Landscapes of scenery require focus from three feet to infinity yet in many portraits you want the background out of focus so as not to detract from the person who is the center of attention.

Yet in other areas you may want both a lot or little depth of field.  One such area is in macro photos.  Sometimes with extreme macro you need a lot of DOF just to get the main subject in focus but if you are shooting say the pollen on a part of the flower you may want to blur the background to place emphasis on just the main item in the photo.

You can control DOF with your aperture priority setting on your camera.

Simply DOF is greater at f22 then at f2.

Try this, find a fence or anything that goes away from you at an angle.  Set your camera at f2 and take a picture. Then from the same position take another picture this time at the highest aperture setting on your camera say f11 and look at both images.  You will see the one at f11 has more area in sharp focus then the pic at f2.

You have just learned to control DOF.

The next goal is to learn when to control DOF. That's what we can learn from this weeks discussion and photo posts.  < Click here >

On the right is a photo of a waterfall which is thirty feet from where the water is flowing over the rocks in the front of the image.  This is one example of maximizing DOF...

I will post several other pics during the week that so different perspective and use of DOF.

Lets make this work and have fun with it.

Troutman

Click here to discuss this tutorial on the Nikon Talk Forum at DPReview...