What is depth of field and how to control depth of field

picture a picture b

The depth of field is the back and forth area of the subject in focus depending on the subject and your choice. you can control the depth of field e.g In land scape photography every thing should be in sharp focus so must set your camera for that setting.In potrait photography you can use be creative by using the different setting of depth of field .

There are 3 ways to control the depth of field

1. aperture has 2 function one is to control the amount of light entering and hitting the ccd of digital camare thereby influence the exposure of picture taken and second to control the depth of field the greater depth of field the less back and forth area of subject in focus and small aperture means more area in focus potrait we can use large depth of field e.g 4or 2.8 aperture to blur the background making the subject to stand out from background distractions


2 Distance of the subject from the lens The more the distance between the lens and subject the more depth of field and the more things will be in focus If you take a picture of a subject from let say 4 meter the background and foreground will be more in focus then if you take a picture from 2metre in which background and foreground will be less sharp.

3 choice of the lens Wide angle lenses will give you more depth of field that is why in land scape photography wide lenses are use where you want everything in sharp focus you take potrait with telephoto lens so background blur and the subject stands out and also to minimize the distracting background ofcourse these are the general guidline and rules for best results for the type of photography you want the do but you can break the rule and use wide angel in portraits and telphoto in landscape to be creative and come up with different and good picture Experiment is the key and to be creative is the kind of fun and you cancome with rather striking picture and could win some contest or it could be appraised and be in some photography magizine. 28 to105 or more are good choice of lens as it gives you good coverage Even in compact cameras wide to telephoto lens is available and should prefer it.

a]above picture of flower is good example of large depth of field or use of telephoto lens or small distance between subject and lens

b]picture of lanscsape is e.g small depth of field i.e 16,22

and use of wide angle lens so every thing in sharp focus