Depth of field (aperture)

.
Depth of field

Today we have a look at depth of field, how to use the f value. The f value on the lens of a camera is to show the amount of light what the aperture will let in to hit the sensor or film. The lowest number like 1.8 or 1.2 means the aperture is wide open and it let a lot of light in. Good for low light situation. It will also affect the depth of filed. So the d-o-f will be short (background blurred).

The last two images has been taken with a higher aperture. So the details in the background can be seen. The dept of field is longer than on the previous images.

I have edited them pictures in photoshop and just saved it with lower resolution.

Research on depth of field

Depth of field research

In this post we'll have a look at photographs with short or long d-o-f. Which photographer used small aperture or large. We'll see how big difference can it make.

First start off with a picture of Joel Meyerowitz who is a street photographer from New York. He used wide angle and small aperture to show much detail as he can. This style is close to me so that's why I chose his work.

Next picture would be Andre Kertesz's street photograph. He shot in the same street style.

The last long depth of field example would be William Kelvin's street documentary photo.

He also used small aperture to bring in much detail as he can.

Short depth of field pictures are shot with a wide open aperture. So the background blurred out, less details shown. It is good for portraits with long lens.

On this picture the short d-o-f hides the details and gives a nice mood to this black and white portrait.

Downloaded this photo from tumbler. Short d-o-f the model pops out the background. Nice fashion picture.