For this lesson, it's time for Depth of Field - Even if you have never heard of this term before, chances are, if you have an SLR camera and a lens with a manual setting, you have most likely experienced what depth of field is about.
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| Here's a nice diagram to explain - squirrels, I'm not sure why, but it gets to the point! |
Depth of field relates to the distance between objects in front of you.
For example, as my eyes are focused on the screen whilst typing this, my hands and keyboard are blurred and out of focus in my vision.
When looking at the keyboard, the screen then drops out of focus. Same applies to the coffee cup sitting between the keyboard and screen. As I move my eyes to it, both screen and keyboard are out of focus.
It really is that simple!
To purposely pinpoint a subject of interest in your images, you will use depth of feild to ensure that it is in focus, no matter where on the image it is located. Center, top, left, or right.
To use depth of field to it's potential, aperture plays a part. Here's a quick diagram....
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| How light effects your focus point |
The smaller the F stop, the more light you are letting in; therefor, the more depth you will have to your image. Your subject will be sharper, and you background, more blurred.
The larger the F stop, the less light is let in. Giving you a flatter image and a lot more of the background in focus (as well as your chosen topic)
There are two categories within depth of field:
- Short depth of field
- Long depth of field
Here's an example of short and long DOF (depth of field) I took last week when in France. I used a 50mm Nikon lens with manual focus. It has an aperture of 1.4 - which lets tons of light in.
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| Short Depth of Field - the ski is in focus and the background remains blurred. |
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| Long Depth of Field - The ski is out of focus whilst the tree is now sharp and more background can be seen. |
DOF is used in every photograph created! So now you know, there is a term for what your point of focus is.
There is also a huge amount of numbers behind it. Formulas, diagrams & mathematics - none of which I'm sure you will want to think about when you are out taking your shots.
It is an interesting read if you really want too, but you can certainly get out there and start applying depth of field more specifically without all the science!
DOF is a handy thing to consider when you are choosing a lens for a certain style of image. I use the Nikon 50mm Manual focus. This is great on non-moving objects, anything involving that you can take time to focus on works a treat with this lens. Otherwise, an auto-focus is a bonus when capturing people and portraits in a busy, fast paced situation.
So have a think when you are expanding your gear as to what sort of images you want to create or what jobs you may end up taking on in the future.
Here's a few more examples from the snowboarding trip of Depth of Field!
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| Ski poles in focus, soft background and foreground. |
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| Long DOF - Fur toys in focus, background visible, but not sharp. |
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| Very short DOF - Crystal clear subject up close, no focus on background at all |
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| Depth of field in action again. |
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| You can see the nice blur effect around the edges with this tighter shot. |
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| Not too long and not too short, just enough to capture the subject without eliminating it's environment |
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| 'Yamaha' branding is the main focus point here |
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| The Nikon 50mm is a great lens, pin sharp and lets in lots of light |
That's all for the meantime on depth of field. I may going more into the topic later on on another, more advanced lesson! But for now, a short introduction is enough to understand the term and how it is applied.
I will have a lessons on lenses and how they work soon, this will also help with the more intense understanding of depth of feild.
Now get out there and give it a go!
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