I personally find that pictures where the background is
blurry compared to the object that is the focus of the photo itself. This is
known as depth of field. In my book Digital
Photography Essentials by Tom Ang, he says “Depth of field is the volume of
space in which objects appear acceptably sharp: it extends in front of, and
behind, the zone of best focus – the sharpest area in the image” (79). I used
this to snap these three photos:
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| Here I'm focusing on the foreground with the stack of two candles. |
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| Then the foreground with the wooden reindeer. |
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| And then finally the background with the happy little snowman. |
I liked doing this exercise because I learned how to make a camera focus manually, along with how to actually hold the camera. This will definitely be very useful in the future when I am taking pictures of different things that aren’t placed in perfect planes of focus. Ang also believes that an images is made greater with the use of depth of field and focus (82). I completely agree with this philosophy and I think I will make more photos using this method, hopefully getting better at it as I practice.
I leave you with this question: What is your favorite style
of photography?
Hey Taylor! I really enjoyed reading your blog as I found it very informative. Depth of field is not something that I often use, so this was really helpful. My favorite style of photography is nature and landscape. Do you have any tips on how and when to use depth of field?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Things in nature make really good subjects, and to answer your question, when I was taking these pictures, my mom told me the best way to use it is to pick something you want to focus on, like if you're taking a picture of that object, and to use manual focus.
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