By Kerry Drager
When it comes to a choice between a slightly blurred background and an extremely blurry one, it pays to experiment!
The term "Depth of Field" describes the range of sharpness in a scene that has depth (both a foreground and background). One "rule" is that you get more DOF with a small aperture (high f/number) than with a wide aperture (low f/number), but it's not always so simple! With DOF, lens focal length, distance to subject, and other elements also come into play.
In fact, when shooting close-ups with a telephoto lens or a macro lens, it's pretty much impossible to get both a close foreground and a relatively distant background sharp at the same time, even with the use of a high f/number. With the accompanying rural springtime scene, background blurriness - i.e., the amount of it - was the "issue" .
In these images, I used a long telephoto lens and focused directly on the close-up fence post. I did want to keep the fence post and some of the wire sharp, so I avoided a super-wide aperture (low f/number). I chose to "compromise" with two images - the same composition but with a high f/number and with a not-so-high f/number. I like both versions! With my D-SLR, I previewed the DOF before shooting ... via Depth of Field Preview. But if your digital camera doesn't have this feature, no problem: You can check the LCD monitor after shooting.
Note: Check out my online photography classes: Creative Light and Composition and Creative Close-ups.
Spring in the Country 1 - More Depth of Field:
overcast light; 300mm lens; f22 at 1/4 sec; ISO 100; tripod
Spring in Country 2 - Less Depth of Field:
overcast light; 300mm lens; f11 at 1/15th sec; ISO 100; tripod
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