DEPTH-OF-FIELD

1. DEPTH-OF-FIELD FOR INFORMATION ONLY INFO Taken From national geographic and other web sites And with advice & ASSISTANCE FROM MEMBERS

2. DEPTH-OF-FIELD AND APERTURE • Depth of field (DOF) is the amount of your shot that will be in focus. • SIMPLY PUT, Aperture is the width of the hole in the lens through which the light passes • As the hole becomes bigger, the depth-of-field decreases. This is a little confusing.

3. The Aperture is a variable hole at the camera end of a lens Yup, it’s a hole alright! And a bigger hole alsolets more light through

4. F STOPS • The standard formula for controlling depth-of- field is to adjust the “f-stop” on the lens. The smaller the “f stop” #, the more the focus is on close up objects, and the more the background becomes blurred. • So, as an example, if your aperture is set at f2.8, vs f22, objects closer up will be much more in focus than anything in the background.

5. Also, the closer the lens is to the subject, the LESS the depth of field will be, regardless of the Aperture being used. More on that later. • Depth of field is a frustrating balance of lens aperture, lens focal length and camera-to-subject distance. But, you don’t need to get too technical to grasp the basics.

6. Wide open aperture, shallow range of focus , small f stop # F 2.8

7. Small aperture, wide range of focus, large f stop # F 22

8. Examples of F stops to obtain different depths-of-field

9. Point-and-Shoot vs DSLRs • Some Point and Shoot cameras have smaller sensors and may not have the range of aperture settings (F stops) to make it possible for you to decrease the depth-of-field as much as you would like. For the most part, SLRs have larger sensors and allow for more control of the aperture. • Having said that, there are certain things that Point and Shoot camera photographers (and others as well) can do to compensate for this. So, don’t despair.

10. GETTING THINGS OUT OF FOCUS TAKES PRACTICE • Of course, I’m not talking about the usual out of focus pictures, you know, the ones you delete immediately and never tell a soul about. • I’m talking about the intentional things that photographers do to limit the depth of field in photographs. • Things we can do to make the backgrounds nice and soft, leaving just the subject in focus and standing out dramatically from it’s surroundings.

11. “F Stop” matters but, there are some things you can do without adjusting aperture • Use “Macro Mode” setting • Keep the ISO as high as possible. • Zoom in (not with the digital zoom!) • Have the background darker & lacking in special highlights - keep the stronger light on your subject. • Try a small flash up close to your subject. • MOST IMPORTANTLY - Move up close to your subject. The further away the background is, the more out of focus it will appear. This alone will make a dramatic difference.

13. GET LOWER TO THE GROUND, HUH?? • This sounds stupid, but consider this. If you are standing while taking a picture of a flower on the ground, the background of the flower is virtually the same distance away. • If you get down low, then the background is much further away and perfectly out of focus. • This simple step works like a dream.

15. This is an example of a shot where you would likely not want to decrease your depth-of-field as you want both the background and foreground to be in sharp focus

16. Practice…practice…practice • DON’T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT. • ONE OF THE BEST FEATURES OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS YOU CAN DELETE AS MANY PHOTOS AS YOU LIKE – AND IT COSTS NOT A DIME!