DOF Help

[Scottdog129]

I see "DOF" and "Depth of Field" alot and, although I know what the effect looks like, Im a little curious how you pull this off??

Just a noob. Sorry! Any help would be great! :)

Scott

[SkipD]

I see "DOF" and "Depth of Field" alot and, although I know what the effect looks like, Im a little curious how you pull this off??Scott, I'm not quite sure what "effect" you are referring to. "Depth of field" refers to a variable effect that one can control by changing one or more of several things: distance to subject, focal length, aperture, and camera format (size of film frame or digital sensor) in the camera. Choosing the format is usually accomplished by choosing a different camera.

You may be thinking of a "thin" or "shallow" depth of field where, typically, the background and foreground objects in an image are blurred relative to the primary subject. You can also have the other extreme - a deep depth of field - where things at all distances in an image appear to be in focus. You can also have anything in between the extremes of a very thin or very deep depth of field in your images.

[SOK]

Scott,

Have a read of Ben's Newbie Guide (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=414088) (it has a nice, easy to understand section on DOF).

The next step is having a go of the DOF Calculator (http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html). Plug some numbers in to see the effect of changing your aperture, focal length, and distance to subject.

The last step is to get your camera and experiment!

Let us know how you go.

[Mike]

Have a look at this page http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm and click on the link "Understanding Depth of Field". It'll tell you all you need to know...I hope!

In short though, DOF is affected by a few things - camera sensor, aperture, distance to subject, focal length etc but (very) generally a smaller aperture will give you a greater depth of field, while a wider aperture will give you a smaller depth of field.

You need to be shooting in either Av or M to take control of your aperture.

[Scottdog129]

Thank you all. All this knowledge is helping! I appreciate it! :)

[xxmxaxrxyxx]

wow great links!