DOF and not having DOF?

[nutsnbolts]

Ok, I love DOF pictures but what if I don't want to use DOF. Take the example of a 50mm or an 85mm lens. I'm presuming that increasing the aperture will do the trick.

Essentially, the issue I'm having is whenever I'm taking portrait of a person, that's easy. But if you have a couple friends who are buddy buddy and try to take a picture of both of them, it's hard to get a focus correct for both of them. Either one of them is in focus and the other is blurred out. hmm..

[Cubix Rube]

DOF is a product of aperture, and distance of your subject from the lens. If you want more of the image in focus (greater DOF), you would use a smaller aperture (larger number). If you want only the subject in focus, and a lot of bokeh, larger aperture (smaller number).
Additionally, the farther your subject is from your camera, the more DOF you'll get from the same aperture.
Does that help?

[Glenn NK]

You might try DOF charts; there are some online:

http://www.dofmaster.com/charts.html

http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html

http://www.outsight.com/hyperfocal.html

By studying them and trying different focal lengths and apertures, one can get a feel for how they affect DOF.

I've printed out charts for my lenses for use in the field using the first two references. Quite useful.

[Curtis N]

Ok, I love DOF pictures but what if I don't want to use DOF...
There is no such thing as a DOF picture.
It's not something you decide to use.
Depth of field is not a yes or no question. It's a "how much?" question. It's a quantitative term.
And it's important to understand it technically before you can apply it in a predictable way. The links posted above should help.

[Mum2J&M]

Do they mean bokeh?

[nutsnbolts]

There is no such thing as a DOF picture.
It's not something you decide to use.
Depth of field is not a yes or no question. It's a "how much?" question. It's a quantitative term.
And it's important to understand it technically before you can apply it in a predictable way. The links posted above should help.

Ok, but you understood what I meant. I didn't know how to explain it or term it or whatever. The only way I can relate to it is what the after result is on a picture. I have visited the links above but didn't really understand it too well but I guess time to digest it further.

[B3SEO]

Depth of Field, simply stated is the distance in front of and behind the subject that remains in focus during a shot. As you increase the aperture, you reduce Depth of Field. DOF diminishes as you move away from a subject, until the point of infinity is reached.

As far as taking as photos of your buddies, shooting wide open is not recommended, as one may be in focus, and the others will be OOF. So, stop it down, F8, F11.

Old FD lenses used to have a DOF scale on the lens. You could roughly calculate what f-stop you needed to get everything you wanted in focus. I kind of miss those.

[*Mike*]

Do they mean bokeh?

Bokeh actually refers to the aesthetic quality of the blur - the pattern, or distinct blur, created by a lens. Here, I'm pretty sure the OP just wants to have a deeper DOF and isn't particularly concerned with the bokeh of the lens.

[Glenn NK]

*Mike* has it right - it's the aesthetic quality of the OOF objects. And there can be quite a difference.

Bokeh? Why not read a couple of informative articles? The first one convinced me that bokeh is more than just being out of focus.

http://www.rickdenney.com/bokeh_test.htm

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/bokeh.shtml

Don't you just love it when I keep popping up with reference in links? And they are long and boring? Basically the problem is that photography can be quite technical (as can graphic arts, music, sculpture, etc). And who really wants to work hard at this business if it's just a hobby?

[gooble]

Ok, I love DOF pictures but what if I don't want to use DOF. Take the example of a 50mm or an 85mm lens. I'm presuming that increasing the aperture will do the trick.

Essentially, the issue I'm having is whenever I'm taking portrait of a person, that's easy. But if you have a couple friends who are buddy buddy and try to take a picture of both of them, it's hard to get a focus correct for both of them. Either one of them is in focus and the other is blurred out. hmm..

As others have mentioned DOF is a quantitative attribute. An image either has large DOF or narrow DOF. It sounds like you are wanting an increase in the DOF you are getting in order to get multiple subjects in focus. Increasing the aperture will not do the trick as increasing the aperture (the opening) will narrow the DOF making it harder to do what you want. You need to use a smaller aperture or, and this may be the source of the confusion, you need to use a larger f-number aperture. The larger the f-number, ie. f/16, the smaller the opening is compared to say an f/4 aperture. The f-number is a ratio and as you divide by a larger number you get a smaller result. In this case the result is the amount of light being allowed to enter the camera.

[CyberDyneSystems]

*Mike* has it right - it's the aesthetic quality of the OOF objects. And there can be quite a difference.

Bokeh? Why not read a couple of informative articles? The first one convinced me that bokeh is more than just being out of focus.

http://www.rickdenney.com/bokeh_test.htm

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/bokeh.shtml

Don't you just love it when I keep popping up with reference in links? And they are long and boring?

Not when the first one is to Ricks article, a log time member and he wrote that for us POTNers originally I think.