Depth of Field A - Z of photography

This is one of my favourite bits of photography, being able to isolate the bit of the subject that I want to. It is inexorably intertwined with “aperture”.

A high aperture or high fstop gives a big or long depth of field. F22 is almost infinite, it certainly is with a smart phone.

Using a low fstop, f2.8 or f4 gives me the opportunity to use the limited depth of field that comes with that aperture. I have 85mm f1.8 lens, which has a very narrow depth of field. If I take a portrait at f1.8 and I focus precisely on the clients pupil. Their nose will be out of focus, as will be their ear!

This is too narrow!

I recently read about an inexperienced wedding photographer, who shot the whole day at f2.8. Almost everything was out of focus – oops!

Choosing the most appropriate aperture, to give the desired depth of field is a skill of the photographer. I want your whole face in focus, and the background fading gently into beautiful bokeh.

As we can see from these two photos, if we use too low an fstop, ie f1.8 or f2 etc, the depth of field might just too narrow, and we miss very important detail the we want in our photo.

The skill of the professional photographer (me) is to get all the things that need to be, sharp and in focus, everything else, gradually fading out of focus, to concentrate the viewers eye, exactly where we want it, on you – the client.

#beautifulportraitsforbusyprofessionals.