Visualizing: the Depth of Field

Last lesson, we started off the new section by discussing a very straightforward yet a very important thing in photography which is focusing. The importance of focusing properly is common knowledge already since, more often than not, a blurry image is an unusable one.

We tackled the two focusing mechanisms, AF and MF, and how one can be better than the other depending on your camera or the situation you are in. We mentioned that using the Automatic Focus is a lot more convenient and fast as compared to its amnual counterpart.

However, we also mentioned that the Manual Focus is the choice you should make if you are aiming for creative shots such at manipulating the depth of field. The depth of field is a concept in photography that is important to know since it is concerned also focusing.

Today we will be discussing everything we need to know about depth of field by visualizing it.

The Depth of Field

When talking about photography, one of the first and most important things you will be learning about is the depth of field. The depth of field refers to the distance between the nearest and the farthest object that you are seeing through your frame.

Usually, the farthest object that you will be seeing is your background. On the other hand, the nearest object you will have on your frame is your subject. Anything other than your subject can be considered as a bad element in the photo already depending on its use.

Knowing about the DOF is extremely important, more so if you are trying to get creative with your photography already. The DOF relates a lot of things to getting your subject focused and popped out of the background.

Since we are in the topic of focusing already from the past article, it is just proper to discuss Depth of Field today.

Visualizing

The Depth of Field is a very visual concept and to understand it, we need to set up examples of it in action. DOF is also affected by a couple of things, particularly the focal length and your aperture.

Fortunately for you, if you have been reading up on the previous lessons from the previous section, you should be familiar already with the two concepts. With that said, the only thing left to do know is to relate them to the Depth of Field.
First and foremost is the focal length. The focal length pertains to how wide or zoomed in your lens is. A wider focal length, 18mm for example, means that you will be getting more of a scene in terms of wideness.

On the other hand, if you zoom in an object, you will realize that your camera can get more focused on a subject and blur the background. To illustrate this, you can try shooting the edge of an object through different focal lengths and manually focus to blur out the background.

Here are the results you might possibly get:


The Aperture, on the other hand, is another element that affects your manipulation of DOF. The aperture is actually known for its effects on the DOF and this ability is always a point for discussion in photography lessons.

If you can still recall it, the lower your aperture value is, the narrower your focus point is while the opposite happens when you increase the value. This technical concept in aperture meant to be dealt with in advanced courses due to its complexity.

However, for the sake of discussion, just remember that a bigger opening in your camera means that there will be more “lines” of light intersecting with each other thus resulting to less clearer pixels. Consequently, a smaller aperture means that your light is concentrated more and arranged to produce sharper images.

To visualize this, here are two images of the same subject taken at different apertures:





The top photo above was shot at f/5.6 which is a relatively wide aperture. You will notice that the photo on top has a less sharper background as compared to the one below it - a photo that was shot at f/32.

The implications of these two elements on the depth of field is massive. For portrait photography, you would want a subject that stand out from its background and you can do that by opening your aperture wider. If you are shooting scenes or landscapes, however, it might be better to capture everything and you can do that with a narrow aperture.

Apart from that, if you are shooting fast objects, a narrower aperture is recommended to lessen the chances of you catching the subject on a blurry spot.

Conclusion

The DOF has, and will always, remain to be a crucial  topic when it comes to proper focusing. The Depth of Field, as we discussed, pertains to the distance of your subject from the background.

The DOF is heavily influenced by the focal length you are shooting at as well as the aperture of your camera. The focal length varies how focused you can get in a subject while the aperture does the same thing. We visualized the implications of these elements through sample pictures.

Our next lesson will be on shooting fast objects. Fast objects are inevitable in photography and learning how to catch them is a definite skill.

Don’t forget to share these lessons to your peers!