5. Depth of Field Project

  CTS PHOTOGRAPHY – DEPTH OF FIELD

 

Overview

 

Beginning photographers are often separated from their more experienced counterparts in their understanding of a basic concept in photograph: Depth of field.  In this exercise you will learn about how to achieve both shallow and large depths of field to create sophisticated “magazine quality” photographs.

Check out this link for more tips on achieving depth of field:

 

What is “Depth of Field”?

Depth of field (sometimes known as “depth of focus”) is concerns how much of your picture is in focus.  A shallow depth of field means only a very specific is in focus, with the surrounding background highly blurred (see Fig. 1); conversely a large depth of field means that most of the photograph will be in sharp focus, with very little blurred (see Fig. 2).

  • Fig. 1

Fig. 2 

A photographer can adjust his depth of field in three ways:

  1. By changing the aperture (size of lens opening) in the camera settings
  2. By his distance/closeness to the subject being photographed
  3. By the type of lens (wide angle vs. telephoto)

By changing the aperture in the lens, you can make the resulting picture have more of the picture in focus from near to far, or you can limit the picture’s focus on one place.

 

 How to Achieve Shallow Depth of Field

First, you will have to move to the “A” setting on the camera, which stands for “Aperture Priority Mode”.  Here you can adjust the size of the aperture on the lens (the size of the hole) by adjusting the f-stop numbers.  The smaller the f-stop, the larger the aperture, or opening.  The larger the f-stop, the smaller the aperture, or opening.

For example, at ƒ1.8, the focus point will be much more defined with things in front of and behind the subject becoming softer looking and blurred the further from the subject they are. Here the yellow #1 ball is clear, while the orange #4 is obscured.  This is a very nice way to bring attention to the subject.

At ƒ22, the focus will seem to be sharp from very close to the camera to pretty much infinity. This is great for giving a sense of the place you shot the image, or for including many people in the image and keeping everyone clearly in focus.  Here, both the bench in the foreground and the trees in the background are in clear focus.

Depth of Field Exercise

In this activity you will personally snap a series of pictures that demonstrate your understanding of both shallow and large depth of field.  Follow the specific instructions below.  Ultimately, upload and edit your pictures with iPhoto, then create a slideshow from the program with all of the pictures with “Depth of Field” in the title.

Shallow DOF

  • Find a subject/object that is still or will be in one place for a couple of minutes.
  • Stand about 2 feet from the subject and focus on it.
  • Set your ƒ-stop to the smallest number possible (e.g. f2.8).  To do this you will have to be in Portrait or “Av” mode.  You will note that the shutter speed will automatically adjust to this aperture setting in the “Av” priority mode.
  • Take some pictures, then adjust the f-stop setting to the next higher number and repeat.  Do this one more time.
  • You need to take a minimum of FIVE shallow DOF photographs.

Large DOF

  • Now set your ƒ-stop to the highest number possible (e.g. f16) and focus on your subject. Take a series of pictures
  • Step back to about 10 feet from your subject and redo the above settings – first at ƒ1.8 then at ƒ16. Take a series of pictures.
  • You need to take a minimum of FIVE large DOF photographs.

Lastly, import all of your pictures into iPhoto and create a simple slideshow that demonstrates the differences in shallow to large depth of field shots.  Your slideshow should contain a minimum of TEN photographs!

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