Aperture and depth-of-field

[peabobb]

Hi all,

I've recently gotten more and more interested in photography. One of the things I've been experimenting with recently is aperture and depth-of-field.

For instance, I saw a picture of a person holding an object in their hand. The object was the main focus of the picture and was sharp while everything else didn't stand out. The caption mentioned this picture was a shallow depth of field.

Can anyone tell me how to accomplish this and the opposite, great depth of field? I'm using the canon A40, by the way.

Thanks!
Bryan

[Benny Tong]

Try this calculator:

http://dfleming.ameranet.com/dofjs.html

Basically what I undestand is that the larger the aperture (smaller F stops), the smaller the DOF.


Benny

[onehotrx7]

Yep, the smaller the F number, the larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field... if you pop your subject on the table top, put a ruler with mm marks next to it, use aperture priority or manual settings, and shoot a F2, F4 & F8... whilst the difference is smaller with the A40 due to the small sensor compared to 35mm, you will see a difference in the sharpness of those mm marks... bear in mind that depth of field extends 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind the subject that is focussed on...

Cheers,
Stuart

[peabobb]

Thanks for the help everyone. I must be doing something wrong though. I was using manual mode and thought that I tried several diffferent f stops. Can anyone suggest the steps to set this up?

Thanks,
Bryan