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Friday, December 17, 2010

Depth of Field

We had some sun and blue skies today but I got engrossed in some experiments indoors with regard to various lenses I own and depth of field. Today's photos were shot with the 90mm macro lens. On the left, with the lens open to its maximum aperture f2.8. On the right with the lens closed down to its minimum aperture f32. Below is midway between the two - f16. These are the images I expected to result but for me it was valuable to actually see the difference aperture size makes. In all these photos, the number "9" was nearest to the lens and the number "3" was most distant.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

aperture always amazes me! I have done some of my own experiments with it...I love the measurements though. Having an actually idea of the distance is very cool.
That 2.8 is so crazy to me, how much space is actually in focus. I love how it stretches across the image.

JoJo said...

Depth of field is one concept I have always struggled with when it comes to photography. It seems so mathematical and I have a hard time wrapping my brain around how to do it. Did you take into consideration your shutter speed too, when taking these?

Andy said...

Good examples! You can do the same thing with the human eye by squinting.

Benjamin Madison said...

Bethany I still don't feel like I understand it so well I am in control but after these experiments I have a little better sense of what I'm doing.

JoJo - I think depth of field is dependent on aperture. I used the "aperture priority" setting on my camera to change the aperture settings and let the camera select the appropriate shutter speed for that aperture.

Andy, cameras have got a long way to go before they work as well as the human eye and brain combination.

Dean Lewis said...

Depth of field is entirely dependent on aperture.