Sonntag, 17. Juli 2011

Understanding the Factors that Affect Depth of Field


What is depth of field (DOF)

The simplest definition for depth of field is the area of your image that is in focus. More specifically, the distance between the nearest and the farthest object that are in focus. The shallowness of  the depth of field depends of the f/stop also known as aperture, the focal length of the lens, the size of the camera sensor and distances between you, the subject and the background.

Aperture or also known as f stop

The first thing we are going to talk is the aperture value. What is aperture? Well, when you look at camera lens you are going to see a maximum aperture range for that lens. For example f/3.5 – 5.6.  The main purpose of the lens is to collect light and deliver it to the camera sensor.
The aperture of a lens is the diameter of its opening. Aperture is expressed as a f/stop. The smaller the f/stop number (or f/value), the larger the lens opening (aperture). Depth of field depends of the size of the opening of the aperture. The larger the aperture opening is the more shallow the depth of field will be and opposite vice versa.

Focal length

The next thing that defines depth of field is focal length. If you have zoom lens or two prime lenses that are different in focal length you can test this yourself. The basic idea is that the longer the focal length is, the shallow the depth of field will get. And of course, the opposite is true when we have short focal lengths. For example if you shoot something with a 50mm lens at f/2.8 and then shoot the same thing with 200mm lens at f/2.8 the difference in the depth of field is going to be dramatic.

Distance between the object and background

The final thing we are going to talk about today is the distance between the object we are shooting and the background. The further away the background is from the subject, the more blurred the background is going to be. For example, if we shoot a model that is standing 3 meters away from us and the background is 5 meters behind the model, the background will be sharper than if the background were further away.

31 Kommentare:

  1. Wow. Professional photography sure is complicated. :x
    I usually just snap pictures with my phone and hope for the best lol but I might try getting a proper camera one day and taking some pictures of scenery.

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  2. What J said. There's a lot more to this than I thought.

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  3. OMG! After reading your blog I'm starting to think that my 8MP mobile camera photos don't worth at all. I will save this posts for when I buy a reflex camera ;-)

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  4. Wow, very professional! Wish I had a nice camera like yours :P

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  5. Do you know what happens if you disable Depth of Field in games?

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  6. big THANKS !! I need this info :D and great blog :P Followed :)

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  7. Thanks! i allways wondered what that meant.

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  8. My aunt is gonna appreciate these photography tips...good looks man.

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  9. wow, thank you very very much! ive been looking forward to getting a real good photo apparatus to finally be able to make some decent pics!
    awesome!

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  10. Thanks man, definitely using this some time :D

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  11. nice nice, i am a filmmaker saving for canon 600d :)
    +follow

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  12. My photography teacher (20 years ago) had a little rhyme thing for it

    The bigger the number, the smaller the hole, the bigger the depth of field

    the smaller the number, the bigger the hole, the smaller the depth of field

    not very catchy, but I never forgot it.

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  13. Photography is way more complicated and hard than my preconceptions

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  14. I have also heard depth of field in video games.

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  15. this is great info, keep up the good work

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  16. Great info, thanks. Though I knew photography was sophisticated, I didn't really knew how it worked. Now I sort of do.

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  17. oh my just when i thought your standard off the shelf camera was alright :o

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  18. I always wanted to be a photographer, but I've spent all my money on guitar supplies lol

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  19. Well written, I always wanted to know how to take decent pictures

    followed+

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  20. very interesting post, thanks for sharing :D
    +1follower

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  21. learned about some of this stuff in physics but somehow you made it more interesting! +followed

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  22. There's a lot more than i would've thought. Very very interesting. Being as ignorant as i am regarding this topic, i am truly amazed.

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  23. im a fan of photography and i find this to be very helpful. thanks

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  24. Very well written guide. I remember learning this for my GCSE in Art and Photography (not sure why I did that tbh). Have to say you covered it very coherently and comprehensively.

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  25. This is really interesting. I always assumed photography wasn't very difficult to perfect. I guess I was wrong :O.

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  26. Your explanations are always so clear. Thank you very much.

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  27. I love your posts... so much information. Definitely saving these for reference.

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  28. im working in a company which produces cameras... feels like my first day there ^^

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  29. I reuested your advice on this topic and I'm thrilled by these post now. The pictures illustrate the theory very well and it's easy to follow your thoughts.

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