Changhua city's fan-shaped train garage. The historic maintenance depot is the only one of its kind left in Taiwan.
Depth of field can be best described as the area of adequate sharpness that extends through the image , on either side of the center of focus. It’s a function of aperture, focal length and focus point – a large aperture (eg f1.4) produces a shallow depth of field while stopping down to a small aperture will give you a large DOF. Additionally, the longer the focal length, the narrower the depth of field, and the closer the focus point (to the camera), the shorter the DOF area.
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In the past, almost all lenses had a depth of field scale on them, however that’s not always the case today, so the best method of determining depth of field is with the depth of field preview button located on most cameras next to the lens. Some of the entry-level bodies leave it off, so if you can’t find it, that’s probably why. When you look through the viewfinder, it’s showing you the scene at the lens’s widest aperture (regardless of what f-stop you’ve selected). Pressing the DOF preview button stops the lend down so that you can see what’s in focus and what’s not. The viewfinder will more than likely do dim as the lens closes down and less light enters.
Choosing The Right Depth Of Field
Just like any other setting, the correct DOF is determined by a combination of your photographic vision , the conditions at hand and the scene or subject before you.
If you’re photographing a landscape vista, you may find you want a large foreground to background sharpness. In this case, stopping down to f16, f22 etc and placing your focus point one third of the way into the scene will render the maximum sharpness.
If you’re shooting an outdoor portrait and want your subject’s eyes in focus but everything else out of focus, a shallow DOF such as f2.8 may be required.
It’s important to remember that objects in the foreground often look distracting if they are unsharp, so keep this in mind when making your creative decisions.
For anyone interested in some more of the train garage that opened this post, here is the full gallery to take a look at.
Stories | Fan-shaped Garage – Images by Craig Ferguson
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