The magic of ‘depth-of-field’

If you  cannot see the difference then there is no point in worrying about depth-of-field but if you have an opinion about which image you prefer then you have made a creative decision. It is not a question of which one is ‘best’ – there is no ‘best’ they are just different and illustrate things in a different way.

I was privilaged to be involved with a guy that asked for some help regarding his photography.   We were talking about equipment and I asked if he had a depth-of-field preview button on his camera.  He smiled and said that he had only just discovered it the other day.

He was new to photography but many people that have been enjoying photography for years never use it!   Why not?  Playing with depth-of-field is one of the most creative tools we have with a camera.

I automatically check depth of field for nearly every image I shoot.   That is because I like to make creative decisions rather than allowing the camera to do its own thing.

• Points to ponder

• Depth-of-field is the distance in front and behind the precise point of focus that is acceptably sharp.
• Depth-of-field is controlled by the size of the lens aperture.
• Aperture size is measured by f stops.
• The smaller the aperture (e.g. f22) the greater the depth-of-field.
• The larger the aperture (e.g. f2.8) the narrower the depth-of-field.
• Depth-of-field is greatest with a wide-angle lens.
• Depth-of-field is minimal with a long telephoto lens.
• Depth-of-field can be miniscule when in very close with a macro lens.
• Set your camera on aperture priority (probably the ‘A’ setting) select different apertures on the same subject and see the creative effect of depth-of-field.

Do you regularly use depth-of-field in a creative way?

Do you find this sort of post stimulates your creativity?