So you’re out in the field and you’re taking pictures of this and that and this and that and you’re noticing that your landscapes aren’t in focus and that your close-ups of things have everything in focus! What’s up with that?!
Well, today you learn why that is: depth of field.
What is Depth of Field?
Simply put, depth of field refers to how much of the photo is in focus. If you don’t have a lot in focus, then you have a shallow depth of field. If you have a lot in focus, you have a large depth of field. This arises from how light enters into the camera and is affected mainly by focal length and aperture due to these affecting how light gets into the camera, but we’re going to focus mostly on aperture here as it’s the main way I adjust the depth of field when I’m out in the field. I can use focal length, but it requires a bit more work especially for portraits, however it is useful in wildlife photography so it has its upsides.
Notice the two photos above. The landscape has a large depth of field because everything is the subject from the crop stubble to the clouds above, whereas the second picture only has the two dancers in focus (shallow depth of field) because they are the subject and the background doesn’t provide a lot of information to what the picture is trying to convey (exhaustion from dancing, trust me).
Now, large depth of fields for landscapes and shallow depth of fields for portraits are the norm, but there are exceptions to the rules.
Exceptions to the Norms
Sometimes you see a flower that you want in focus, and want the background to serve as a drop such as in the first photo. A shallow depth of field in this photo brings your attention to the flower whereas the background, which would normally be in focus for the traditional landscape, is blurred and provides just a setting and contrast.
In the second photo, we have a medium f-stop as there are multiple people I want to get in one shot. Traditionally you’d use a shallow depth of field for shots like this (at least I do), but that would’ve resulted in most of them being out of focus and my speedflash lasting only about 200-250 shots or so therefore I wanted to maximize what I could get out of my speedflash.
How Can I Get My Aperture to Open on My Camera?
This is actually a feature of your lenses, and not your camera. While lenses can get expensive, starting out you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing prime lenses. Prime lenses lack the ability to zoom, so any zooming will have to be done by you moving to or from your subject. Your lens must support the aperture size desired and most lenses are set up where they have a native range that you cannot go outside of. This is to prevent damage to the blades that make up the aperture and other parts of the lens.
Canon’s 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (here at Rockbrook Camera) usually retails between $130 and $150, and is my go-to lens for any portrait photography and nearly all the photos I take in low-light settings.
Conclusion
Depth of field is a great way to enhance the look and feel of your photos by implicitly telling the viewer where to look at your photo, and aperture of your lenses being the easiest way to alter your depth of field. While zoom can affect your depth of field, at least in my experience it isn’t the main tool I use to adjust my depth of field.
Also, all the photos taken on this page were done with a Canon EOS 6D Mark II with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, so you can see how it performs!
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